The Princess and the Pauper
by Chaos formerly Rini
Summary: One is a spoiled, rich brat from a muggle family. The other, a poor yet satisfied pauper that comes from a wizarding family. Could they ever meet and… fall in love? Not your average Cinderella story, I promise you! LJ Ch. 13
1. The Letters

****

The Princess and the Pauper

__

One is a spoiled, rich brat from a muggle family. The other, a poor yet satisfied pauper that comes from a wizarding family. Could they ever meet and… fall in love? Not your average Cinderella story, I promise you!

I was sick of Lily always being the victim, so you might not find her likable at first. She _should_ get better as the story progresses.

I haven't finished my other L/J fic yet, but I wanted to do more with their Hogwarts years.

*** *** *** *** ***

Once upon a time…

All stories have a beginning, and this one starts with the phrase used in all the classics. So, once upon a time, there lived a spoiled brat who had no idea of what she was, and a poor boy who had no idea who his father was… and didn't care. Now, we go to the Evans' manor, where our story truly begins…

"Petunia! Have you messed with my scale?" a snobby voice called from the bathroom.

"No, Lily!" This voice was slightly kinder, with a much higher level of maturity to it. "Why?"

"Because it says I weigh so little, but I can't. I have to weigh more than this… this fake number. I need know how much weight to lose!" The voice of Lily Callista Evans was becoming definitely whiny.

"Lily! How many times do I have to tell you, you are unhealthily skinny! You should be gaining weight, not losing it," Petunia said, appearing in the doorway of the luxuriously large bathroom. She appraised her sister, who was standing before her in an overlarge bathrobe. The auburn hair spilled down to her knees in huge waves, and her pretty face was pulled into a not-so-pretty pout. Her green eyes were staring at the offending scale, which seemed to be telling her that she weighed a lot less than she thought she did. She was a tiny four foot four, which was very short for her age of ten. Her birthday was the next day.

Most of the petite girl's weight was muscle. She had to train every day in several different activities, her favorite one being archery. Petunia preferred swimming, but hated all else.

"You're one to talk," Lily retorted, turning to her older sister. "You have the _perfect_ figure. I, on the other hand, am way too fat."

Petunia simply sighed and rolled her eyes. It was no use arguing with her sister when she was like this.

Contrary to what people might believe, Petunia wasn't spoiled or snobby. She didn't flaunt her wealth or try to starve herself for her looks. She wasn't very pretty, with her rather long neck and plain blond hair, but she had rather striking hazel eyes. The only other difference between Lily's eyes and Petunia's (aside from color) was that her eyes were warm and friendly, and her sister's were cold, hard, uninviting.

"We're going shopping in half an hour, so you can get your new clothes for the party tomorrow," Petunia informed her sister.

"Half an hour? Why didn't you tell me sooner? Fetch me Binah! BINAH!" Lily shrieked frantically. It was a tradition for the Evans girls to have a huge party on their birthdays, inviting many of the other rich families. Binah was their servant, or lady-in-waiting, as Lily preferred to call it.

"Yes, Miss Lily?" Binah appeared to be rather shy, but was really quite outgoing when placed in the proper environment. She had strawberry-blond hair and, at the moment, dull blue eyes. These eyes sparked to life when she was excited, and twinkled when she was amused.

"Fetch me my Tuesday shopping clothes," Lily said in a dismissive tone, turning to face the mirror once she was certain that the servant had come.

"Yes, Miss Lily," Binah said, biting back her irritation. Why did Lily always have to think herself superior, just because she had more money? Well, at least she'd be gone come September the first. She had been accepted to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Binah had been forbidden to inform any "muggles" of the school, so she had just had to say that she was going off to a boarding school to improve her manners. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she thought about the school. She had always been childish, believing in fairy tales, and her face seemed to reflect that child-like image: it was round and pleasant, just like a seven- or eight-year-old's. She wasn't exactly thin, but certainly wasn't fat. She was just a bit on the pudgy side, and average height.

"What's this?" There was a letter addressed to Miss L. Evans, The White Bedroom, Evans Mansion. Shrugging, Binah picked it up, not noticing its similarity to the one she had received. She quickly pulled open a drawer labeled "Tuesday" and yanked out an outfit from the section labeled "Shopping." Lily always had had an immaculately tidy organizing system, unlike most ten-year-olds. Binah's own drawers were all jumbled up, with the only organization being something along the lines of clothes she liked to wear (near the top) and clothes she hated wearing (stuffed deep down into the bottoms, where they rarely came out from again). 

"You have a letter, Miss Lily," Binah said, holding out the stack of clothes with the letter propped on top. Petunia disappeared, but that was only normal. Binah liked Petunia. She was nice, and more like an older sister than an employer.

"Put it over there," Lily said, waving in the direction of a large vanity. She snatched the clothes out of Binah's hands and added, "I will call for you to do my hair."

As Binah left, Lily thought, _If there's one thing she can do, it's hair. It will be a shame to loose her when she goes to whatever school it is. _Several minutes later, after Lily had washed and dressed, she called Binah back.

"I want my hair braided around my head," she said, sitting in her chair. She reached over and plucked the letter from its resting-place, and read aloud, "Miss L. Evans, The White Bedroom. What a peculiar way to address a letter!" Binah, who was combing out the tangles in Lily's hair, nodded her agreement. "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards. What rubbish is this? OUCH! Watch it, Binah!" Binah had accidentally pulled too hard on a particular knot as she recognized the contents of Lily's letter to precisely match what had been in her own. "Any ways, there's more. Dear Ms. Evans, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September first. We await your owl by no later than July thirty first. Yours Sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress. Do be careful, Binah!" Binah had once more pulled Lily's hair. "Now, have you any idea who would send me this type of rubbish?"

"It isn't rubbish, Miss Lily. I got a letter just like that, and have already replied. Tomorrow while you're all shopping in the muggle shops in London, I was going to go to this place called Diagon Alley and buy all my supplies," Binah said uncertainly. Maybe she should make it sound like a joke, and make Lily not want to go. She didn't want to be bossed around all the time by her old 'mistress.' She wanted to go and have fun at school.

"Well, honestly! You tell me just how you know it isn't all some sort of trick," Lily said indignantly.

"I'll show you later. There's a pub your Ma and Miss Petunia wouldn't be able to see, which is the entrance to Diagon Alley. I'll show you later," she repeated.

"Fine, then, you'll 'show me later'. We'll just see what kind of letter this is." Lily was clearly irritated. Even if this was real, she didn't want her servant to be able to join in on the fun.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

At another, much shabbier home, another person was receiving their letter. This scene was much, much different, however.

"James, dear, it's time to get up!" 

"'Morning, Mum," a boy said groggily. He had very messy black hair that would not become neater, no matter what he tried. He was fairly tall for his age of eleven, but didn't seem uncomfortable with his height. His warm, chocolate brown eyes simply glowed with kindness and happiness, but there was one thing that didn't quite fit his appearance: his clothes. They were very, very shabby, and it wasn't by choice. His family was very poor, even though it was just him, his mother, his father, and the grumpy old lady that rented about half of their downstairs rooms. She would be gone by now, if they could afford to have her leave, but they couldn't. He just had to wait until she died.

"Have a bit of toast, James," his mother said, pointing what looked like a stick of wood at a plate and floating it over to his place.

"Toast? We never have toast. We don't have the money to have toast," James said, blankly staring at the already mentioned toast. One would have thought that he would have been surprised to see his mother floating things about the room, but it was quite a common occurrence in his home.

"Ah, but today is special. Today, you have received your letter!"

The simple words had the desired effect. James seemed to completely wake up, and began to jump around his chair. "Where is it? Where is it? Can I see it? When can we get my supplies?"

"Calm down! If you would look, you would find it right next to that toast, so of course you can see it, silly! We can go out today, if you like," Mrs. Potter laughed, "but first, you must finish your break-"

"Done! Can we go now?" James had eaten at turbo-speed while reading his letter (which was exactly the same as Lily's had been, only his name and home had been substituted for hers.)

"Let me get my-"

"Here they are!" James said, holding up a pair of shoes.

"You should take Divination. You seem to be able to predict what I'm going to say!" Mrs. Potter teased.

"No, Mum, it's just that you say the same thing every day. Can we go now?" James said the first part very logically and then the next part in a very hopeful tone.

"Yes, yes, we can go now," she said, grinning. "Floo powder. Leave note for father. Meet at Ollivander's. Money from Gringotts…" and then Mrs. Potter wasn't there. James, making sense of his mother's short, mixed up instructions, left a note telling his father that they were at Diagon Alley, and flooed {A/N: Almost flewed, which is almost flew… or, floo is almost flew… I'll shut up now} to Ollivander's wand shop.

"Ah, Mister Potter. I've known you would come," an eerie voice said behind James.

Nearly jumping out of his skin, he turned around and calmly replied, "Hello, Mister Ollivander. Mum will be along in a moment. She needed to get more money from Gringotts."

"No worries, boy. We'll just start you out trying wands, and you can pay when she gets back. Here, try this."

James was handed about three wands before he found the one suited for him. "A fine wand, a very fine wand indeed. Mrs. Potter, how kind of you to join us."

Once more, James nearly jumped out of his skin. "Mum! This is _my_ wand! I have a wand!" 

Mrs. Potter applauded her son with good humor while paying for the wand. "Now, since this is such a special day, we can get you some _new robes_!"

"_New_ robes, Mum? Can we…" James trailed off and glanced around quickly, then lowered his voice, "can we afford it?"

"Well, we won't have to be feeding you for a while, and we've been saving up some extra money for when you got accepted. We were certain you would be!" Mrs. Potter was sounding very excited.

"Calm down, Mum," James said in a paternal tone. They seemed to have switched places.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

"Mother, we must find this dirty little pub called the Leaky Cauldron," Lily said. "_Binah_ says she needs to go there, and if the place really exists, so do I." 

"What's this?" Mrs. Evans said, frowning. 

"I received this letter earlier, and Binah says she got one just like it," Lily said, holding out the Hogwarts letter. 

Snatching the letter from her daughter's hand, Mrs. Evans read it quickly and said, "Well, then, we will see if this 'Leaky Cauldron' and 'Hogwarts' truly exist. Is that what you're wearing?" 

The last bit was added as she finally took in her daughter's outfit. Lily's red hair was braided in a circle around her head {A/N: Medieval style… you know.} and was undecorated. She wore jeans that were a medium shade of blue and were low on her waist, with bell-bottoms. Her shirt was made of a green, silky material that was somewhat clingy, and the sleeves were slit up to the elbows. She wore a simple gold chain, gold hoop earrings, and white platform shoes.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Lily demanded, crossing her arms defensively over her stomach. 

"Nothing! I just thought you might be a little… under dressed for a shopping excursion," her mother replied hurriedly.

"Well, Pia's wearing almost the same thing." {A/N: Pia=Petunia. A nick-name.}

It was true. Petunia also wore bell-bottoms, although hers were a very dark shade. Her shirt was a simple pink tee shirt, and she wore silver earrings. She had no necklace on and her shoes were a dark blue. Her hair was down loose, with two little braids at the front.

"That's true, dear. Very well, Lily, Petunia, Binah, into the car!" Mrs. Evans knew perfectly well that any argument with her daughter would be useless.

About half an hour later, the fancy car that a chauffeur was driving turned onto a certain street. "Now, keep an eye out for this 'Leaky Cauldron', dears," Mrs. Evans reminded her daughters and Binah. 

Half way down the street, Lily shrieked, "There it is, right there!"

Binah said, "I see it! I see it!"

Mrs. Evans frankly couldn't see what the two girls were pointing at. There was a bookshop and a record shop, but nothing in between where they seemed to be pointing.

The car pulled up, and Mrs. Evans said, "Well, Lily dear, here's some money so you can buy your supplies. Binah, stay with Lily. Come down to that clothes shop when you're done."

And then Lily and Binah were left on their own to enter the wizarding world.

*** *** *** *** ***

I'll stop there. What do y'all think? R&R, please!

Rini


	2. Diagon Alley

****

The Princess and the Pauper

__

One is a spoiled, rich brat from a muggle family. The other, a poor yet satisfied pauper that comes from a wizarding family. Could they ever meet and… fall in love? Not your average Cinderella story, I promise you!

****

Phasera- Chocolate cookies to ya! You were me first reviewer! Um, actually, they might not change like that. I know what will happen to Pia, so you'll see! I'll go write now ;-)

****

Scarlett*Eyes- Thanks! I will write more. She's supposed to be mean and stuck-uppish right now. It might change, might not. We'll see.

****

E.M.C.- My uncle used to have a job at EMC… Thank you! I so agree that L/J fics are awesome to read. Mostly because their characters aren't set, so you can make it up however you want. 

****

FairySpirite- I actually got _The Princess and the Pauper_ from that very old fable of the Prince and the Pauper. I don't think it's very fitting for my fic… I'll read yours when I get a chance! I'm rather busy…

****

Shichan godess- Thank you soo much! I wrote it because I was, too. I mean, I love the Cinderella stories with Lily and James, but I wanted to write something different. I always do… I will keep on writing and thanks again!

****

Lucky21- Welcome, I twill, and not many people do notice that… or they do, but choose to ignore it.

****

Betina- Thank you! ::wanders off muttering something about needing to find another phrase for thank you…::

Evil, yucky, nasty Pettigrew most likely won't be in this (I hope) so YAY! There was something else I wanted to say… I'll put it at the end if I remember…

Oh wait, I just did. I need title suggestions, everybody! I know it's kinda hard this early in the life of a fic, but if you could just keep it in mind that I need one as you read the next chapters, that'd be great.

*** *** *** *** ***

"Er, pardon me," Binah said timidly as she and Lily entered the Leaky Cauldron, "but could someone please help us to Diagon Alley? We need to buy our supplies…"

"We're just on our way there now!" a cheery voice said. "Just follow us, dears."

Lily and Binah turned to see who was speaking, and found a short woman with fiery red hair, along with a girl that could only be her daughter. The daughter's hair, however, was much darker, more brown than red.

"Are you going to Hogwarts?" the girl asked. "I am. I'll be in my third year this year. My name's Molly McCaully. Don't know what Mum and Da were on when they named me _that_… What're your names?"

"I am Lily Callista Evans, and this is my lady-in-waiting, Binah. She is an orphan, and no one knows what _her_ last name is. No one really cares much, either. So, can you tell me about this Hogwarts? I just received my letter today, and have no clue what any of it is about!"

Molly didn't really like this girl much, but said nothing about that. More for Binah's benefit, she gave a brief narrative on the train ride, teachers, and most importantly, houses. She excluded the Sorting Hat from her talk, however, as it was a tradition to let the first years sweat a bit before they found out what would happen.

"I think I shall hope to be in Gryffindor, as it sounds the best. Ravenclaw or Slytherin wouldn't be too horrible, but imagine Hufflepuff!" Lily exclaimed as Molly finished talking.

"I think Hufflepuff sounds lovely," Binah said quietly.

"I'm in Gryffindor, myself," Molly said. _And I sure hope this snob doesn't end up there, too!_

Mrs. McCaully had just finished up her business in the Leaky Cauldron, and was gesturing for the girls to follow her. They went out back, and Mrs. McCaully tapped one of the bricks.

A huge, cobbled street appeared before them, swarming with all sorts of witches, wizards, warlocks, hags and more.

"Wow," Binah breathed. Lily simply sniffed.

"Here's the money mother gave for you to buy your supplies with, just like it was promised. Meet me back here in one and a half hours," Lily ordered, prancing off.

Molly giggled a bit, and then said, "She's going to have a nasty shock when she tries to pay for her school supplies with muggle money. Let's just wait here, and then take her to Gringotts to exchange it."

Binah nodded, and a few moments later angry voices were heard.

"What do you _mean_, I can't buy anything with this money?" That shriek definitely belonged to Lily.

There was a slight pause, in which the employee was certainly trying to calm her down, before she screamed once more, "Fine, then. I'll leave!"

As Lily stormed out of the shop, she spotted Binah and Molly, and marched over to them. "You ran off before I could tell you that you needed to exchange your money," Molly said quickly.

"Well, let's go do that, and then Binah, you are to stay with me. I've decided I'll need you to carry my shopping."

Binah sighed and trudged behind Lily. At least at school, she wouldn't have to cater to this brat's every whim. No one would. She smiled self-righteously. That would put the great Lily Callista Evans in her place, as a human. Not a greater-than-human, but a normal human.

A poke in the back brought her out of her musings. "Wake up, silly," Molly said, laughing. "Go over there to switch your money, and then you can go buy your supplies. Take this and get yourself an owl or a cat… you don't want a toad," she said with a wink. 

"Wh-what for?" Binah asked, confused.

Molly lowered her voice to a confidential whisper, and said solemnly, "Because I like you, and I pity you for having to stay with that." A jerk of her thumb in Lily's direction indicated just what 'that' was.

"Thanks!" Binah said happily. "I think I'll get an owl. Not that I send or get any letters, but I think they're gorgeous."

"BI-NAH!" Lily trilled. "Come change your money so we can go shopping!"

"Coming, Lily! I'll see you on the train?" Binah added to Molly.

"Yep! If you can't find a seat, come hunt me down. My compartment is always a bit crammed, but another person or two won't bother us."

Binah waved as she rushed over to where Lily stood, tapping her foot impatiently. Her money had no sooner been pushed into her hands when Lily had whisked her away to the robe shops.

"I don't see why they have to be _black_," Lily said, more to herself than Binah as they were being fitted. "Black looks horrendous on me!"

"Now, now, dear, it doesn't look completely terrible, although I must say green would look best on you. But you both are done now!" the lady said.

They paid for their robes and left the shop, Binah balancing the two packages on top of each other.

"Let's go get our cauldrons," Lily said, glancing at the list. "It shouldn't take but a moment, and then we can get to the fun shopping!"

Binah groaned as she followed Lily through the crowds. The cauldrons sounded as if they'd be terribly heavy.

She was right. She stuffed the two packages of robes into the cauldrons, one each, then the potion supplies went on top of that… and the books! The books were in there, too, and there were more than the required few. Binah had bought Hogwarts: A History, and a few other books that Molly had recommended. Lily bought all the same ones as Binah, and a few other odd-looking ones that she thought might be useful. If she had to go through with this whole witch thing, she wanted to do it right.

As Binah staggered out of the bookstore, attempting to hold both of the heavy cauldrons without dropping them, she smacked right into someone.

"Drattitude!" she exclaimed as the cauldrons tumbled to the ground, spilling out their contents.

"Sorry," a grinning boy said, first helping Binah up and then picking up the contents of one of the cauldrons. "Wasn't quite watching where I was going. The name's Sirius Black." He held out his hand to Binah, meaning for her to shake it. Then he realized that once more, she was holding the cauldrons. "What're you doing with a double load?"

"Miss Lily told me to carry her things… so I am," Binah said apologetically.

"Well then, in that case, use this," Sirius took a long, rounded piece of wood from beside the door, and put the handles of the cauldrons over each end. "Just stick that on your shoulders, move the cauldrons in a bit, and put your hands on the outside of them. That way, they won't fall off and you won't drop them as easily."

"Thank you," Binah said as Lily shrieked for her. "I have to go now."

"Bye!" Sirius called after her retreating form.

"Sirius!" Sirius looked behind him. "Hi, Sirius! Did you get accepted, too? Of course you did, why else would you be here?"

"Hiya, Jamesie. I could be here buying more pranks from the joke shop, couldn't I?" Sirius said, grinning at his friend.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Haven't you bought anything yet?" James's arms, as well as his mother's, were loaded with packages.

"Mum and Dad have it. They're buying me a 'surprise' present. My guess is it will be an owl."

"Now, you know perfectly well that it isn't any fun to spoil your parents' surprises, Sirius," Mrs. Potter mock-scolded.

"You mean, not any fun for them. It's the greatest fun for us!" James corrected his mother. "Now, can we please go to the joke shop? Please? Dad expects me to stock up a bit, and I have a little money left over from pet-sitting. Odd that people pay you to sit on their pets, isn't it, Sirius?"

Sirius nodded seriously and said, "Bloody waste of money if you ask me."

"Watch your language, young man!" A man and woman had come up behind Sirius, and the woman was scolding Sirius.

"But it's very hard to watch words, Mum. Don't you agree, James?" James nodded.

Mrs. Black gave and exasperated sigh as the man, Mr. Black, began laughing.

"Say exactly what you mean, and they can't take it literally," he said to his wife.

"You would have thought I'd learned by now…"

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"What kept you?" Lily snapped at Binah as she struggled through the crowd. "And what is that on your back?"

"I collided with a boy, and he helped me pick up and set this up to make it easier to carry our supplies. What do we need now? Wands? And I have to go get an owl," Binah said, quickly changing the subject.

"Let's get the pets first. I believe I shall get an owl _and_ a cat. However did you come upon the money to buy a pet?"

"It was a present from a friend," Binah said, hoping against all hope that Lily didn't know she hadn't any friends. Well, not until they met Molly, at any rate.

"Hmph," Lily said, entering the Magical Menagerie. 

Binah hurriedly found the owl she wanted. It was the loveliest out of any of them, and she knew Lily would want it. That was only half the reason she chose it. The other half was because she wanted it.

Lily was looking over the cats when Binah paid for her owl. "No, not purple. Orange is ugly… I know! I'll get this lovely white one… it's just the teeniest bit pink."

"That's a very beautiful cat," Binah agreed. Unfortunately, Lily looked at her and saw her owl. She'd already glanced over the others, but none of them met her approval.

"Thank you for finding the perfect owl for me, Binah," Lily said, holding the cat close and reaching out to grab the cage from Binah.

Startled, Binah pulled back. "Well, don't be a ninny, give it to me!"

"NO!" This was the first time Binah had ever refused someone. "I bought her, and she's mine. I won't give her to you."

"Do I hear you denying me? Hand it over!"

"IT'S MINE!" Binah yelled. "Go find your own!"

"But I want _that_ one!" Lily whined.

"But you can't have _this_ one. I'm not letting you have her," Binah's voice was no longer loud, but instead dangerously soft.

"You forget we don't have our wands yet, and there is no way you could beat me physically," Lily hissed. "_Not_ that you'll do well with a wand. You will be a complete incompetent. But fine, keep your stupid owl. This one is much nicer," she said as she picked up a reddish colored one. "It matches my hair." Lily paid quickly, shoved her pets on Binah, and swept off to the wand shop.

Binah, following at a slower pace, was near tears. Not of sadness, but of joy. At last, she had denied someone something they wanted. At last, she had stood up to someone. At last, she was going to _live_.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"She's a prat," Sirius said simply to James, watching Lily and Binah walk off. "Throwing a near tantrum just for a stupid owl."

"Yep," James said, nodding. He didn't even glance at the two. "Let's go back to my house! Mum made some cookies the other day, and I think there should be a few left. Unless Dad got home first…"

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The wand shop was old, musty, but there was a strong feeling of magic. Binah felt a slight tingling in her hand, and waved it around a bit to get rid of the feeling. When her hand had reached a certain angle, the feeling intensified. She seemed drawn to one of the shelves full of boxes. She reached out her hand further, and touched one of the long containers. A shock seemed to jump between her and the box upon contact, and she drew back her hand, startled.

"Go on, then, try it," a voice said from behind her. She jumped around and saw a small man with watery eyes, but a very penetrating stare. She gulped, then nodded, taking down the box. She took the wand out and waved it around, sending sparks flying all over the place.

"Then that would be your wand," the man said, going behind the counter and ringing up her purchase. Then he stepped over to Lily.

"Which is your wand hand?"

"Right," she responded confidently. That w_as_ the hand she wrote with, after all. The man began handing her wands upon wands, but none of them seemed to work for Lily. At one point, she got a strange feeling that one of the wands was meant for her, but it hadn't worked either. Nothing was happening with any of the wands at all.

Becoming bored, Lily waved one of the wands with her right hand, then left. Nothing happened on the right, but when she waved it about with the left, one of the two chairs burst into pieces.

"Well, then, your wand hand would be the left, not right. We must go through and try all these wands out again." The man, who Lily guessed was Mr. Ollivander, was sounding very irritated, and righteously so.

The same wand that Lily had felt the connection to sent showers of sparks into the air, just as Binah's had done. Wordlessly, Mr. Ollivander rang up the wand and sent the two on their way.

"She is a princess, he is a pauper," he muttered, referring to two of the customers he had had that day. Was Dumbledore right? Were they supposed to be together? Only time would tell, that he knew.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Binah was waiting nervously in the car while Lily, Mrs. Evans and Petunia went shopping for muggle clothes. Would Lily mention how she hadn't followed orders? She hoped not. She wasn't in trouble when they returned to the car and it began to move. So far so good.

The car pulled up in front of the Evans's house. Binah jumped out with the school supplies and dashed up to Lily's room, dropping the supplies on the bed. Taking a moment, she sorted out her items and ran into her own, small room.

She was safe. For now. There was always a calm before the storm, and this calm was stretching too long for it to only be a small shower. She was expecting a hurricane.

*** *** *** *** ***

What says you all? **_R&R!_** Please? Thanks!

This was one lo-ong chapter…


	3. Food Fight

****

The Princess and the Pauper

__

One is a spoiled, rich brat from a muggle family. The other, a poor yet satisfied pauper that comes from a wizarding family. Could they ever meet and… fall in love? Not your average Cinderella story, I promise you!

****

Alerae- Oh, I love it, trust me!

****

AngelStar88- Yes, they do. Thanks, and I think I did, didn't I?

****

Hpfan- thanks!

****

Lily Evans- thank you!

****

Myst- Floppyfish! I will!

****

Heart2heart- I'll try! Floppyfish!

****

Jellybeanoasis- Squishysquids!

****

Satans Little Princess- Yes she should! I will.

****

NicolaPadfoot- I believe I R&Rd your fic… try not to get too attached to Binah, she might change. Merci beaucoup!

****

Hyper Princess- Sugarbeets!

****

Thistlemeg- SqueegeeSponges! Hope the wait wasn't too long!

Title suggestions, please!

*** *** *** ***

"Binah! Come help me prepare for the party!" Lily trilled.

Sighing, Binah appeared in her mistress's doorway. "Yes, Miss Lily?"

"It's time to get ready for my party. Begin by braiding my hair," Lily said imperiously. As Binah divided it into three sections to braid, Lily added, "In lots of little ones."

Binah sighed again, and took tiny sections of Lily's abundant hair to braid.

An hour later, she snapped the last elastic around Lily's hair.

"Good, now twist it up like we did at the beginning of the summer."

__

One more week, Binah thought, _just one more week of this._

"What are you standing about for? You have to go get changed into your uniform. I won't have a shabby lady-in-waiting."

Binah couldn't have vanished any quicker with magic. She spent as little time getting ready as it was possible. Petunia rarely called on Binah, and when she did, it was usually just an excuse to talk. Thus, Binah was able to steal a few more precious moments reviewing her books and practicing spells.

"binah, it's time to go down now," Petunia said softly from outside the door.

"Coming, Pia!" Binah called. It had been she that had come up with Petunia's nickname, and she hated hearing Lily use it. It just came out wrong.

Binah stood uncomfortably to the side. This year would be like every other year: the guests would come talk and play with Lily and Petunia while Binah hid in the shadows. What a dull day.

But it wasn't going to be. She saw three people enter: a lady and a gentleman (_Mr. and Mrs. Black_), and a scowling boy that must be their son.

He seemed familiar… frantically going through her memory, she realized that it was the boy that had crashed into her at Diagon Alley. Sirius Black! She'd never known that Mr. and Mrs. Black had a son.

Sirius recognized Lily as the snobby girl who had demanded that her servant give up her pet. He scowled even harder and shoved the present his parents had picked out at the girl. He hated being this rich. He always had to go to dull parties without his friends.

Binah was about to greet Sirius when she remembered that she'd be in big trouble if she did. She drew back and sat on the window seat.

Sirius saw the movement and turned to see who it was.

"Hello," he said. "I believe we ran into each other in… while shopping."

"Yes, we did," Binah said, glancing around nervously. Lily was deep in a conversation with one of her friends.

"What's your name again?" Sirius asked.

"Binah. And you are Sirius Black. But we shouldn't be talking to each other, I'll get in trouble."

Sirius looked disappointed, mumbled something, then wandered off.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Why did Sirius have to go to that stupid party? Now I have to de-gnome the yard by myself." James was very, very angry. "Why can't we buy a nice house _without_ gnomes!"

"Because we haven't the money, dear. At least we have magic to fix the roof and such. Poor muggles can't do that, and are much worse off than us," Mrs. Potter said softly. "But don't worry. Something good will happen soon."

James sighed. It was really hard not to worry when they were so poor. He'd taken on so much responsibility that he was much too solemn for an eleven-year-old boy.

__

His father doesn't help much, never being around. Mrs. Potter wished her son could have a better life, but it was impossible. He'd just have to wait.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"The party was awful," Sirius informed James. "We had to do everything Lily suggested, and it was all girly stuff. I still can't believe that stuck-up snob got into Hogwarts!"

"Don't worry, Siri. It won't be that bad," James said, trying to comfort his friend.

"We have it better than Binah, at least," Sirius said, his mood clearing up a bit.

"Binah?" James asked blankly.

"Binah," Sirius confirmed.

"No last name?"

"None. I asked." Sirius had managed to force Binah into talking a few times at the party. "She's an orphan, but was hired at the Evans's house to be Lily and Petunia's 'lady-in-waiting.' She's never lived anywhere else that she can remember."

"Is she pretty?" James asked teasingly.

"Nope. Very young looking, too. Hufflepuff, I'd expect. Can I have another cookie?"

"Yep," James said, while thinking, _Good thing Mum hides most of the cookies when Sirius comes over._ His mother loved to bake, but the only things she could make well were cookies.

It was August thirty first, and Sirius was sleeping over with James so they would go to the Hogwarts Express together. Sirius was telling James all he knew about Lily and Binah, as well as many other children. He tended to be invited to many parties because of his wealth.

"Boys! Go to sleep now!" Mrs. Potter called from outside the door.

"Okay, Mum!" they bother replied. They both cracked up laughing at Sirius calling Mrs. Potter 'Mum.' {A/N: That's something I'd do… calling my friend's mom 'Mum.'}

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

It was Binah's last day of servitude. Sure, she'd be going to an orphanage during the summer, but anything was better than dealing with Lily Callista Evans ever again.

Lily had already bid her family good-bye and disappeared through the barrier. As Binah was about to follow, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Binah… I just wanted to tell you that you've been like a little sister to me, more so than Lily. I'm going to miss you so much! Be sure to… to 'owl' me a lot. I'll have you over sometime this summer, too," Petunia said, her voice a bit choked with tears.

Binah embraced Petunia and said solemnly, "I will. I promise," before turning and walking slowly through the barrier.

This earned her many odd looks on the other side. First and second years always ran through the barrier, they didn't walk slowly. 

Binah somehow managed to load her trunk into an empty compartment, and left for a moment to put her trolley away.

"Binah! Come load my trunk for me!" she heard Lily bellow from a little ways away.

She ignored her and jumped back on the train.

"Binah! How dare you not help me?" Lily demanded, following her.

"You forget I'm no longer your servant," Binah said coolly. "Maybe if you ask for help, I will, and if you're lucky, let you sit with me."

Lily froze. She never asked a lower-classed person for anything. But she had no choice. "Fine. Will you help me load my trunk?"

"Yes," Binah said. _And she said she was so strong. I got mine on by myself!_ Lily seated herself next to the window, across from Binah with her cat on her lap and owl stowed overhead.

'Mind if I sit here?" a boy asked, poking his head in. "Everywhere else is full."

Binah was the one to reply. "Sure! What's your name?"

"Remus Lupin," the boy replied, shaking hands.

"This is Lily Evans, and I'm Binah."

"Have you got a last name?" Remus asked, looking curiously at Binah. She shook her head. "Are you serious?"

"No, he is," Sirius Black and another boy had just entered the compartment, "I'm Binah, remember?" 

"Yep! I'm Sirius Black," Sirius said, sticking his hand out. No one took it.

"James Potter," the other boy said.

"_You're_ a wizard?" Lily asked of Sirius incredulously.

"Yes," he said coldly, glaring at her. He took a seat beside Binah, James on his other side, and Remus nearest the door. That side of the compartment was crammed as none of them seemed to want to sit next to Lily.

The ride was passed with Lily making snide and spiteful remarks and Sirius, James and Remus joking with each other. Binah was pretty silent, aside from when food came. She said something about being sad to have no money to buy anything, and Sirius announced that he'd buy James, Remus and Binah some of his favorites.

The four got on a boat together, and then Lily insisted on sitting with them. Binah nearly fell into the water when Lily moved around a bit, but Remus grabbed her.

The castle was breathtaking, and Binah couldn't believe that she was going to be living there.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"When I call your names, you will come up and place the hat on your head," Professor McGonagall said.

She went through a few names, then came to "Black, Sirius." After a pregnant pause, he was declared a Gryffindor.

It was only then that Binah realized she had no last name. How would she be called? She was worrying about this when she heard, "Dumbledore, Binah."

"Dumbledore?" she asked blankly.

Realizing that she didn't _know_, Professor McGonagall simply said, "Yes. That's you."

Binah stumbled up to the chair, thinking, _How can I be Binah Dumbledore? I never knew my last name!_

****

Ah, but you are. He is your grandfather, the headmaster is.

Then how come I was sent to the orphanage and never told?

After a pause, the voice that hadn't startled Binah said, **_You will find out in good time. Now, which house shall I place you in?_**

Not Ravenclaw and not Slytherin?

The hat laughed at her hopeful tone. **_I wasn't planning on it… you could do well in Hufflepuff right now, but Gryffindor would do you well. The choice is up to you._**

I think I'd like Gryffindor… that seems to be where my friends will end up.

****

Very well, GRYFFINDOR it is.

The table farthest to the left exploded with applause, and Sirius was standing up whistling.

Lily, a girl named Arabella Figg, a boy named Mundungus Fletcher, James, Remus and another girl named Kora Schnozzlewoogan were also sorted in Gryffindor.

Dumbledore (_My grandfather_, Binah reminded herself), stood up and made a short speech that concluded with the appearance of…

"FOOD!" Sirius shouted, causing most of the Gryffindor table to laugh.

About halfway through the meal, Binah accidentally flung a spoonful of mashed potatoes at James, who shot some peas at her in retaliation. The peas hit Kora, though, so she threw some spinach at Remus (she thought he'd done it), who just tossed the whole platter of chicken into the air. It hit nearly everyone, and the Gryffindor table was drowned in a food war, with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff joining in. Lily was the only one out of the three houses that wasn't battling; she was hiding under her chair.

Laughing, Dumbledore sent them all off to bed, saying that the hall needed to be cleaned.

Binah had a sinking feeling about being in the same house and dormitory as Lily. It would be a very difficult stay indeed. Just as she thought she had washed her hands of the brat…

The rest of her thoughts were lost to sleep.

*** *** *** *** ***

****

Reviewer's Quotes!

I've decided to do a little 'tasting' thing, where you all give me one of your fave quotes from any of my fics (and who said it or who it's about). I'd really appreciate it if you copied it out and left it in your review! I just figure that way, I could see what types of things you all like the best, and work them in a bit more. Thank ya'll greatly! 

Rini

Oh yeah, and if any of you could read One Reason to Die, Three Reasons to Live, and let me know if I should continue and give suggestions, I'd be grateful! It's another L/J fic.


	4. Her Only Challenge

****

The Princess and the Pauper

__

One is a spoiled, rich brat from a muggle family. The other, a poor yet satisfied pauper that comes from a wizarding family. Could they ever meet and… fall in love? Not your average Cinderella story, I promise you!

Welp, I'm not giving any excuses here for taking so long to get out this chapter aside from the fact that I have been incredibly busy with school lately and have also tried to cut back on my computer time for a couple weeks. My parents have been threatening to ban me :-( Therefore, I haven't been writing.

Oh, and Peter will be making an appearance at a later time as we haven't really got much of a choice in the matter. And the first year shouldn't be too much longer.

****

Hyper Princess- Thanks for the quote, and sure I'll e-mail ya! 

****

Nasha Potter- Thank you! I'm glad it is entertaining… the humor should play into it this chapter, or the next one. Or soon. That sounds good: soon. Hehehe…

****

Satans Little Princess- I hope this is kinda soonish! Although I know it isn't.

****

NicolaPadfoot- thanks! I wasn't really planning on making her nasty, just defiant to Lily.

****

…..- I didn't say a food fight was original, and I also didn't say that I'm the only one who has portrayed Lily as the rich brat. I said it wasn't an _average_ fic, meaning that a huge number of this type hasn't been done. If you're going to leave a review that is saying you don't like it, maybe you should at least write your pen name in. I know I do if I'm going to just diss the fic. That wasn't even helpful criticism. 

****

Thistlemeg- funnily enough, someone else said they liked that… food good ::eyes glaze over:: Sounds good to me ;-D

****

Rocket- thanks and I will!

****

Quitesirius- thank you! I will (to reading and writing hehe). You had better be back or else… or else… wait, I shouldn't threaten the reviewers…

****

Princess Gin-Gin- thanks! I'm glad I can make someone hate/like a character… that's good news. Thanks for the quote, and I will write more.

****

Ashlynn Black- I will keep writing! Thanks for the quote!

****

Pohlil- I will!

****

Anneliese- thanks! I know this was kinda a wait, but I've been busy with school and my other fic (Usagi's Destinies).

****

Cassie- thanks!

I need a new title! Please please please help! Well, I guess I'll have to wait until I'm really far into the story… oh twell!

Tarot cards are fun… I always predict death or really bad stuff, though.

*** *** *** ***

She should have remembered. It was as simple as that. Had Lily gotten it through her thick skull that Binah was no longer her servant, the other girls wouldn't think she was a completely heartless snob. In reality, their impression of her wasn't that far off the mark, but of course Lily didn't think that.

The girls had awoken on their first full day in the castle, adrenaline pumping through their veins.

After they all had showered and dressed, they began to pull their hair up into ponytails, braid it, or just quickly brush it and leave it down.

"Binah! Aren't you going to do my hair?" Lily called to the other girl as she made for the door.

"No!" she replied before shooting down the stairs.

"BINAH! You come back here right now!" Lily shrieked, not noticing the other girls' incredulous stares.

"Where do you come off ordering her around?" Kora demanded.

"Oh. That's right. She quit," Lily said in a fake, small voice. "I don't know how to do my hair."

"Brush it out quick and I can show you how to braid it," Arabella said coldly. In truth, she'd taken a small spot of pity for the snobby girl who didn't even know how to deal with her own hair.

Lily obeyed, struggling with the brush and her mass of hair. "Try from the bottom up," Arabella said, sighing. This was going to be one difficult day. When all the tangles were finally brushed out, Lily was told to part her hair into two sections. "Hold this for now," Arabella said, shoving one of the sections over her shoulder. "This part is simple. You split your hair into three sections- go on, try it with that part- and then you take the right section over the middle, then the left, right, left, right, left," Arabella fell into a steady working rhythm while Lily struggled.

At last, her long hair was braided, one half neat and precise, the other the obvious product of a beginner. "I expect you to do that on your own from now on," Arabella said severely, "and ask if you want help doing something different."

Lily was actually going to say thank you, but Arabella swept out of the room with Kora hot on her heels hissing, "Why'd you go and do _that_?"

She was just able to hear the reply. "Because I don't want that rich twit to think she can order us around. At least now she can do something with that hair of hers." Had Lily listened more, she would have heard Arabella say, "Besides, I don't think she'll be all that bad once she gets off her high horse," but she didn't. Instead, she sat back in her chair to think.

__

So do they really think that I'm a cold-hearted, bossy, rich brat? Well, they'll get what's coming to them. They have my word... er... thought on that!

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Hey, Dung! It's time to wake up!" James shouted in Mundungus Fletcher's ear.

"Wha? Who? Where? Huh?" the boy said, sitting up and blinking bleary eyes.

James snickered and said, "I thought you might be a light sleeper. These two sleep like rocks." A thumb indicating just WHO was hard to wake up accompanied his sentence. "Now, I need you to get dressed so we can make a quick escape, all right?"

Mundungus, or Dung as he'd been dubbed, nodded and scrambled to get dressed. James broke open Sirius's trunk and grabbed out a large number of wet-start firecrackers, and began dancing around while placing them in seemingly illogical positions.

"Go get two buckets of water, Dung!" James hissed.

About three seconds later, they both stood beside a bed, a bucket of water in hand.

"On the count of three... one... two... THREE!"

They dumped the water and ran as the firecrackers set off, successfully waking up Remus and Sirius.

"James! I'm going to get you for this!" Remus called as Sirius shouted, "Did you use my firecrackers? James, you are dead!"

Dung laughed and said, "Good thing you warned me to run."

"Yep," James simply said, smiling.

"So why did you use Sirius's firecrackers?" Dung asked innocently {A/N: Dung? Innocent? Yeah right!}

James glowered darkly then said, "My family is pretty poor, so my supplies are really limited until I can get into Filch's office."

"Sorry."

James's eyes seemed to catch on fire and he said between clenched teeth, "I don't need pity."

"All right, then. Sausage?" Dung said quickly. "What do you think of that Binah Dumbledore? She seemed pretty surprised at the sorting."

"She said that she didn't have a last name on the train," James said reflectively. "Binah! Come sit over here," he added as Binah approached the table.

Binah was rather shocked to hear her name called so nicely, which James took note of. He was about to ask her about her name when Arabella and Kora seated themselves across the table, bickering loudly about Lily. James and Dung listened in while Binah began to eat.

"I don't understand why you helped that spoiled-" Kora called Lily something that was _definitely _not appropriate, and something you wouldn't think an eleven-year-old would know about. "I mean, Bella, she was screaming at Binah to do her hair!"

"She's used to having Binah work for her and forgot that she wasn't any more, and like I said upstairs, at least now she won't have an excuse to bother any of us," Bella said patiently while buttering a roll. {A/N: Yum… ::drools:: I love rolls}

"I think Bella's got the right idea," James put in. "Shut her up then have fun!"

"I would've ignored her," Dung said perkily.

"Stuff it, you," James said, poking a few pieces into the unfortunate boy's mouth. Dung choked, gagged, chewed frantically and then swallowed.

"That wasn't nice," he muttered resentfully.

"Never said I was!" James replied happily.

"JAMES!" Remus and Sirius had just entered the Great Hall.

"It was Dung!" James shouted, snatching his timetable from McGonagall and sprinting off.

"Thanks a lot, James," Dung said, mostly to himself, as Sirius and Remus advanced on him. "Thanks a whole lot."
    
    His impending doom was delayed by the arrival of Lily, who simply took an apple and her timetable before leaving.

The menacing duo shrugged before continuing their advance.

"Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, do I have to use your middle names?" Bella threatened. The pair immediately sat down and began eating like the innocent little boys they were. Not, that is. Were not.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

While most of the others were eating, James was just finally figuring out what floor he was supposed to be on. _Wish Mum hadn't gone to that Irish school_, he thought. He didn't even consider how his father could have told him all the ins and outs of the school, nor did he know that to many adults this was a saddening fact.

"I've got you now," James informed the classroom he'd stopped in front of.

"_Why_ are you talking to a _door_?" a snide voice asked.

He glanced around and spotted Lily, munching on her apple.

"How did you get here so fast?" he queried, ignoring the former question.

"I _believe_ I asked _you_ a question _first_," Lily said in a superior tone.

"I wasn't talking to the door," James said neutrally.

"Then what _were_ you talking to?" She wasn't sounding curious, only like she wanted to make fun of someone.

"No, I asked you a question," James responded, trying to play her game.

"But you didn't completely answer mine. What were you talking to?"

James chose not to answer. He decided he really didn't need to know how she found her way to class so early. Maybe she had just found a teacher.

After a moment it became clear that he had no intention of speaking. "Why aren't you answering me, boy?"

"James," he said coldly.

"You were talking to James? Just _who_ is that?"

__

Is she trying to drive me crazy? James though. "I meant, don't call me boy. My name is James."

"I think boy will suit you _just fine_," Lily said dismissively, chucking her apple core into a nearby waste bin. She then stood up and opened the door to the classroom. 

__

Was the door unlocked the whole time? James wondered.

__

This is so odd, Lily was thinking to herself. _I just know all these things, like how to get to the classroom and when the doors will be unlocked._
    
    Shortly, the remainder of the class arrived for double Charms. Sirius and James sat next to each other with Remus and Dung across the table from them. Binah, Bella and Kora took the next table over, and were joined by one of the Hufflepuff girls. Two more tables filled up with Hufflepuffs, leaving Lily to sit by herself.

"Hello, class," a pleasant voice said from the doorway. "I am Professor Kitay, but you can call me Ki, short for Kinani." {A/N: Pronounced Kit-a, like the 'a' sound in 'stay', Kie, like tie, and Kie-nah-knee.} Some of the class seemed a bit shocked at addressing their youthful professor so informally. "Now, I'll read through the register, and when I get to your name say 'here' and one thing about yourself."

When she said "Black, Sirius," Sirius jumped up on the table and stated quite loudly, "HERE! I am Porthos, one of the Three Musketeers!" He began brandishing his wand around like a sword.

Ki laughed and suggested he sit and maybe tell a more normal fact? "I am one of the greatest pranksters of all time, so beware, citizens! You've been given fair warning."

For some reason, she seemed to be skipping around the register. "Lupin, Remus," was the next name called. More calmly and gathered, he stood up on his chair and stated, "Here. I am called Athos, one of the great Three Musketeers! My duty is to save the king!" He also began to brandish his wand around like a sword. Then, without being told, he sat and said, "I like fudge."

Of course, to round out the craziness, she called "Potter, James."

__

He stood up on the table jumping around, and said, "HERE! I AM ARAMIS, ONE OF THE INFAMOUS THREE MUSKETEERS! I am THE greatest prankster of all time, so you are never safe!" He began cackling evilly, and rounded out the performance by running and jumping off the table, doing a somersault in mid-air.

"Bravo!" Ki called. "Fletcher, Mundungus."

Dung had caught on to the pattern of his three new friends. "Here!" he shouted while jumping up onto the table. "I am D'Artagnan, wishing to join the King's Musketeers!" He began waving his wand around like a sword, and to the surprise of many it actually changed into one. He began leaping from table to table, fencing with the air. 

"Come down, Mundungus!" Ki shouted over the cheering of the rest of the class. He demurely stepped onto his chair and sat.

"I am Dung, hear me roar." he said flatly. "And I like cheese."

The class was laughing so hard, it took a moment to continue.

Arabella remained seated while she said, "Here," but then she jumped up and began doing a very ridiculous version of Irish step-dancing. "I am the Lady of the Dance!" she shouted, then sat down. "I love to dance, but I'm really bad at it."

Kora said that she hated her last name, and didn't do anything that was super funny. Lily decided that she was going to be normal, and simply said that she liked to shop.

Binah had decided what she was going to do. She had learned a few spells over the summer, so she stood up on her table and said, "I am the Princess of Thieves, daughter of Robin and Maid Marian." Then, she made an illusion charm to make it look like she was holding a bow and arrow, and aimed it at Sirius's head. He actually _screamed_ and tried to duck under the table, but she'd already pulled the "string" and the "arrow" shot at his head. He was surprised that he didn't feel anything though.

"I hate following orders," Binah said as she sat down, although no one heard her. Sirius was still poking his head in a confused manner, and everyone else was laughing at him.

By the time the Hufflepuffs had finished (and they did it without any fooling around) it was nearly time to leave, so Ki let them do whatever they wanted for the last five minutes.

"If all my classes are like that, I never want to leave," Binah said to Kora and Bella as they headed off to Transfiguration.

"It probably won't be," Kora replied. "Some of the teachers are real nasty or boring or strict… y'know."

"But it's got to be better than before Hogwarts," Bella put in gently.

Binah thought briefly of Pia, shook the thought off and nodded.

"Let's follow the yellow brick road!" Bella suddenly shouted, hooking arms with Kora and Binah. "Who wants to be who? I say none of us are Dorothy… that wouldn't be fair. I can be the Scarecrow."

"I want to be the Tin Man!" Kora put in excitedly.

"What are you talking about?" Binah asked.

"Oh dear," Kora said sadly.

"You have a lot to learn," Bella informed Binah. "Just follow our lead, and we'll make you read The Wizard of Oz later."

They then skipped to Transfiguration, with Kora and Bella singing at the top of their lungs. The three Musketeers and their young comrade followed behind, singing a song that mentioned, "One for all, and all for love," and seemed to be a theme song. Occasionally they would touch their wands together and shout, "One for all, and all for one!"

Lily trailed behind them, thinking about what a waste of a class Charms had been. _At least Transfiguration will be a bit better, with McGonagall teaching_.

She was right. McGonagall read right through the register and gave them a big lecture about fooling around in her class (you're not allowed to) and then gave them a match to transfigure into a needle. It took Lily a few minutes to do it, and she put her hand in the air at the exact moment James did. She glared at him as she realized that her only competition to be the best at everything this year would be the poor wizard born. The thought disturbed her. She was always the best at everything at her house, and not even another rich child could do anything better than she. But now, here was a poor boy, and he was going to be her greatest challenge.

*** *** *** ***

I was going to write more than that, but then I realized I had how many pages? Four and a half according to print preview. So I decided to get this out and then write more… but maybe later. Hehee

R&R!


	5. Origin of the Ceiling

****

The Princess and the Pauper

__

One is a spoiled, rich brat from a muggle family. The other, a poor yet satisfied pauper that comes from a wizarding family. Could they ever meet and… fall in love? Not your average Cinderella story, I promise you!

Um, kinda irrelevant fact, but the ceiling wasn't bewitched to look like the sky yet.

If any of you have been having problems with flames, you should try reading the new thing I put out, called something along the lines of How to Deal With Flames. Actually, a lot of you should try reading it…

****

Taracollowen- yep, it will, and one of them is this chapter. I basically based them off of me and… yeah, me. Hehe… none of my friends' insanity levels are that high.

****

Tsuki tatsu- thanks, thanks, and thanks. Thanks for loving it, thanks for liking the title, and thanks for the quote. Nice pen name!

****

HPMystery- thank you! I was actually planning on working in the pronunciation this chapter. Thanks again! 

****

DreamReal- thank you, and I'll try… no such thing as too many exclamation points!

****

Sierra Sitruc- thank you, I will, and most likely but maybe not.

****

DreamingReader- thank you and I will!

****

MidnightLily- can you e-mail me the aothor of one reason to die 3 to live… I didn't quite get most of that, but I'll e-mail you anyway.

****

CurtK- thanks and I'll try.

****

Clavel- thanks soo much! I've really just started working with the Tarot cards… I bought some, and after I'd used them a few times, I found out my dad had some in the attic… -. -' Twelve bucks down the tube… I could've bought a book. Oh well… I haven't predicted deaths, but one of my friends was traveling away from intelligence and towards something not good. The first one I did that made sense was pretty good, and it all fit together. I'm not great at translating it yet, though…

****

G.D.Jade- thanks, and I read that chapter… dunno if I reviewed, but it was good! I think I read it off-line, and then got kicked off the computer… and thanks for title ideas!

****

Danielle- yep, she's mean, but say what? She said/thought a lot of stuff… thanks, and it made PERFECT sense.

****

The Golden Snitch- for some reason I wrote your name as 'The Golden Lion'… I think my insanity is really beginning to surface. Thank you… yay! You hate her! WOO HOO! Erm, that was really weird… -.-

****

Quitesirius- if that's the one I was watching when I wrote this chapter, then yep! And I won't do anything mean. I can't, can I? Thanks!

****

The girl who is obsessed with Harry Potter- Bella is mentioned as part of the 'old crowd' at the end of book four, though, so obviously she had to be a friend. She also lives longer than Lily, and some people age faster than others. I'm glad you like the fic, though, and thanks for the quotes! 

****

Thistlemeg- maybe he can be… ::grins evilly then glares at Peter:: or maybe he can be like the honorary marauder. That could work… let's see ::opens score book and adds in a few points under Dung's name:: thanks for your input!

****

SilverSickle17- when aren't you feeling lazy? Binah Dumbledore is Binah. The end! I could easily leave it there. I see you haven't read my Lee Jordan story yet. Maybe you'd like to read my Tamora Pierce one, once the beginning of that is up. I'll write when I want to write, thank you!

*** *** *** ***  
After a very, very boring History of Magic lesson came supper. Most of the class was very groggy as they stumbled down to the Great Hall, but Lily, who'd always been taught to pay attention, swept down the stairs with her usual air of haughtiness.

The class was woken up, as well as any other tired students, by a loud explosion.

"James, did you use my firecrackers _again_?" Sirius demanded. It looked as if most of the Great Hall had been blown up. Everyone stood amidst ash and dust, some of the paintings coughing and trying to clean themselves.

"No," James said innocently. "I used Remus's."

"WHAT?" Remus exploded. This was not what he'd wanted to hear. "You told me that you'd gotten them from Sirius's trunk! That's the only reason I agreed to set this up with you…"

Suddenly, another explosion occurred, blowing a hole through the ceiling. The impact threw everyone to their fronts as little bits of roof began to crumble in.

"James!" many of the Gryffindors yelled, guessing that the one called James that the others seemed to blame was usually responsible.

"That was _not_ me," James said indignantly.

"Remus?" a few less people said, using another trouble making name.

"Nope," Remus said, shrugging.

Even less said, "Sirius?"

He shook his head.

Suddenly, the three accused jumped around and shouted, "DUNG!"

"Not me! I didn't," Dung said quickly.

"Then who did?" Sirius wondered.

"Me!" Binah said proudly, standing up amidst the rubble.

"Hey, don't forget me!" Bella shouted, shoving her friend.

James surveyed the amount of mess that had been piled up, then saw Remus doing the same. "Not bad," they said together. "Not bad at all."

"I'm guessing that at least half this mess is yours," Remus said, mentally comparing the before and after images of the Great Hall destroyed and the Great Hall _really_ destroyed.

At that moment, Dumbledore stopped chuckling at the other staff members and said, "I would like the creators of this mess to see me now, please. All the rest of you may go to bed. Food will be sent up to the common rooms so you can eat."

The whole hall was a mass of movement for the next few minutes. Lily could be seen disgustedly brushing off her clothes and shaking ashes out of her hair as she left, and Sirius and Dung were laughing at the expressions of many of the students. The main one had been shock, but others had had simple looks of, 'Who on Earth did this and what were they playing at? This place is a mess and I'm STARVING!' or thereabouts.

Bella, Binah, Remus and James bounced up to the high table- er, what used to be the high table- to meet their doom. (A/N: Nuttos… darn it, that's what I'd do… erm, yeah.)

"So, you four are responsible for this mess," Dumbledore began.

"No, Binah and I did the ceiling and those two the rest," Bella interrupted. "We didn't know that they were going to blow up the tables."

"If we had, we would've rescued the food. Look at that poor chicken leg! It's crying," Binah added, pointing at a chicken leg that was, indeed, crying. It was also dragging itself along like a slug. Dumbledore frowned and waved his wand at it, causing it to immediately flop down.

"Remus Lupin and James Potter, I'm afraid I'll have to give you detention for blowing up the lower half of the Great Hall. Binah and Arabella, detention for blowing up the upper half of the Great Hall."

"Yes, sir, Bumblebee sir!" they all shouted in unison. This actually hadn't been planned or thought of before; it was just some spur-of-the-moment thing, and the fact that they'd all said it together made it hilarious. Which was why they ended up rolling around on the floor laughing.

"Go to bed, you three," Dumbledore said, pointing at the boys and Bella. "Binah, I'd like to talk to you."

"That's funny. I thought we were talking," Binah said, with a slight trace of seriousness in her voice.

"That we were," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling a bit.

"So why'd you ask if we could talk if we already were?"

"Er…" Dumbledore didn't know how to respond. {A/N: Wow… I thought that would be impossible.}

"Anyway, I have lots of questions to ask you," Binah continued. The other three had left the hall by now, and the teachers were working on repairing the damage. "Why, if you're my grandfather, was I left at an orphanage? What happened to my parents? What should I call you? Why did I never know about you? Do I have any other family?" She most likely had several other questions to ask, but Dumbledore held up his hand and stemmed the flow of questions.

"You haven't any other family. The evil wizard named Grindlewald murdered them all. A more recent dark wizard, named Voldemort, killed your parents. You were left at the orphanage because he didn't know of your existence, and I didn't wish to endanger your life. You didn't know about me because any contact with you could put you in a dire situation. Voldemort won't attack me directly, but he will attack my family, just as Grindlewald did before I defeated him. Grindlewald didn't realize, and Voldemort won't learn, that killing my family won't weaken me. It will make me stronger." After a moments pause, given so Binah could take all that in, he added, "You can call me whatever you like."

"All right, Whatever-you-like. It's a rather long name, so how about," Binah paused for a moment, contemplating the decision, "WYL? Or While?"

Dumbledore laughed and said gently, "How about Grandfather, or something like that?"

Binah's eyes lit up. They looked exactly like her grandfather's, actually. She snapped her fingers and said, "I've got it! How about Grandpapa? Or just Papa?" {A/N: Grand-pa-paah, short a then long a, not pa pa.}

"How about Grandpapa? I'm not young enough to be called Papa," Dumbledore said, sighing wistfully. "May I ask you a question?"

"You just did, Grandpapa, but you can ask me another one," Binah said. 

"Thank you. I would like to know why you blew up the roof."

"That wasn't a question. But I decided that I liked the sky better than the ceiling, so I thought that everyone else might like it too. I don't think you should put it back."

"But what if it rains?"

"Then we'll use umbrellas. Good night, Grandpapa!" Binah said happily, kissing the old man on the cheek and skipping off.

"She's a lot like her mother," Dumbledore said. "She looks exactly like her. But she has my eyes."

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Stupid pranks," Lily muttered, wringing out her sopping hair. She'd just gotten out of the shower. "Stupid people pulling stupid pranks. Stupid explosion because of stupid people pulling stupid pranks. Stupid ash in hair because of stupid explosion because of stupid people pulling stupid pranks. Stupid-" she was cut off her ranting by the door swinging open and Kora poking her head in.

"Are you done in here yet? Bella and I would like to get cleaned up, too, and I'm sure that as soon as Binah gets back, she'd like to-"

"I _NEED_ TO TAKE A _SHOWER_!" Binah sang out cheerfully, bursting open the door of the dormitory.
    
    "I'm coming out," Lily said resentfully, wrapping her hair in a towel after pulling on her baggy pajama pants and a tank top.
    "It's taken you long enough," Bella said huffily as Lily emerged.

"I'm sorry that I've got long, thick hair that takes a while to get ash out of. If you'd actually thought before you blew off the roof, then _maybe_ I wouldn't have taken so long!" Lily said snottily, seating herself in front of a mirror while unwrapping her hair from the towel. She began the tedious process of brushing it out, which she had only had to do once before. When at last it was tangle-free, she settled in to braid it. At this point, Kora had finished in the bathroom and Bella was half done.

Kora was whispering to Binah. "How did you put up with her for so long? She's already driving me crazy!"

"I had Pia to balance her out a bit. Pia- Petunia- was really nice to me. She even said that I'm more like her little sister than Lily is."

Kora nodded understandingly as Bella pounced onto the bed. "Your turn!" she informed Binah.

"I figured," Binah said wryly, skipping into the bathroom.

"You should have seen your face when the roof blew off," Bella informed Kora. "It was funny enough after the initial explosion, but with the added circumstances, it was completely comical!"

"How'd you do it?" Kora inquired thoughtfully. "We barely had any time to set it up at all…"

"Well, first we chose the proper longitude and latitude to set up the experiment on, then we-"

"Without the fancy big words, PLEASE!" Kora begged her dictionary-wise friend.

"Basically, we snuck up onto the roof before supper and set up a few joke bombs, timed to go off together about halfway through the meal."

"Thank you," Kora said, crawling into her bed as Binah came out of the bathroom.

"The water was freezing!" Binah exclaimed, shivering.

"Well, maybe if Miss I'm-too-good-for-you Evans over here hadn't taken so long, it wouldn't have been so cold," Bella mock-scolded her friend.

"I'm sorry that this stupid castle doesn't even have a decent water-heater!" Lily snapped, turning off the lights.

"Excuse me! Did any of _us_ say that we were ready to sleep? No? So turn back on the lights, stupid!" Kora cried from her side of the room.

"Fine," Lily said shortly, turning the lights on. "And may moths eat all your clothes."

The others simply laughed at this interesting curse.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Everyone was awed when they walked into the Great Hall the next morning. The ceiling was there; you could just barely pick out the rafters if you looked hard enough. It just didn't look as if it were there. The mirror image of what the sky would look like was portrayed in precisely natural colors.

When Dumbledore saw his granddaughter look at him curiously, he stood up to make the announcement. "Some of you may have noticed the interesting change in our ceiling. This is because I was informed last night that certain people thought that the Great Hall would look nicer without the roof. I decided that, indeed, it would, but it would be inappropriate to go roof-less. So I enchanted the ceiling to look exactly as it would if the roof were not there. Eat! You need your strength for your lessons!"

Everyone closed their gaping mouths and began to wolf down their food as quickly as they could. It would be the first real day of lessons, and they didn't want to faint from hunger.

The year proceeded in this fashion until Halloween, the fashion being excruciatingly boring, difficult, or fun lessons with a few pranks thrown into the mix, along with Lily being haughty and disdainful to… everybody, actually, and everybody ignoring Lily. Unless they got fed up with her. Then she fell victim to some of the pranks.

*** *** *** ***

What say you all? R&R! Don't forget to check out my other fics… I'm just starting a Lee Jordan one that could prove to be interesting further into it. Well, I'll write more soonish!


	6. Halloween and Summertime Troubles

****

The Princess and the Pauper

__

One is a spoiled, rich brat from a muggle family. The other, a poor yet satisfied pauper that comes from a wizarding family. Could they ever meet and… fall in love? Not your average Cinderella story, I promise you!

****

Sierra Sitruc- please don't go insane! I've been reading one of your fics… I think I reviewed, but it might've been one of the ones I brought up and logged off with so I didn't tie up the phone line. I hope this is kinda soon.

****

Taracollowen- thanks, glad it's funny ;-)

****

Clavel- I'm feeling bad for Lily, too! Things should get better eventually.

****

Saphire- thanks!

****

Thistlemeg- tank you greatly!

****

Lillily- thanks, I will!

****

Jellybean Oasis- yes, her attitude will tone down, thank you. Thanks for likin' me lil' ol' theory. Just felt like blowing up some stuff… KABOOM!

****

Danie- it might get shorter. Maybe. I don't know… thanks, and I'm hurrying (but not too much).

****

Xavier- cool works. Thesauruses aren't necessary when you have a very workable word. That was an alliteration… I put those in my fics a lot, accidental-like. 

****

Sailor Capricorn- I'm so flattered! ::big HUGE smile:: oh dear, I'm reminding myself of my friend… not good. Obsessions are not bad! They're very good! Especially if it's an obsession with my story ::big, fake wink::

****

Sirena Oculare- tankies!

****

Hyper Princess- thanks! I twill.

****

Ashylnn Black- I twill! I twill! I twill! I like the word 'twill.' Twilltwilltwilltwill!

****

FairySpirite- ::BIG BOW!:: thank you. Thanks for reading those others of my fics… ß that was one WEIRD sentence. 

****

The girl who is obsessed with Harry Potter- can I just call you TGWIOWHP? That works… yes… Tgwiowhp, pronounced tih-gwee-owe-hip (light on the 'i'). Thanks, and thanks for the quotes! I'll put them in when I dredge up a few minutes.

****

Ooooobbooyy- thanks for the insight. I was actually thinking that myself, believe it or not. The reason I was showing a lotta Binah was 'cause of what the great Arthur Weasley once said, "To get the true measure of a man, look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals," or thereabouts on the matter of Barty Crouch. I was showing that Binah was a decent person, but Lily was just being a b!+ch. And people will start being a little nicer soonish.

*** *** *** ***

That Halloween, there was to be a costume contest. Many people had their costumes planned far in advance. Others were ready last minute. Lily had paid for her expensive costume long ago; Binah was still deciding what to wear as the others dressed. She glanced around the room, hoping for inspiration, and said, quite simply, "Aha!" as her eyes settled on a certain bedside object.

"Are you coming, Bean?" Bella queried from the door. "We're going to be late for the contest if you don't hurry!" Arabella was dressed as a Sphinx, with her eyes painted as the huge, almond shaped ones that all Sphinxes sport, and her hair was dyed pure black. Kora was dressed as a mermaid. There isn't really much more you can say about that.

Lily's long hair was held down with a circlet of gold doubloons, huge golden hoops gracing her ears. She wore a three-quarter-length white peasant shirt, with dark green ties, and a shin length dark skirt of an unclear color. It appeared to be black, or blue, or green, depending on the amount of light thrown on it. Tatters at the bottom revealed many layers of underskirts, all different colors. Her ankles, bare above her shoeless feet, bore several golden anklets, as her wrists had a huge amount of bracelets. The other girls had to admit that Lily made a marvelous Gypsy Queen, although they wouldn't tell her that. She'd just get all obnoxious about how they really knew that she was beautiful, and nice, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Literally. 

"Well, I'm not going to wait for people who don't even know to get a costume," Lily said as she settled a shawl on her shoulders, "but I'd hurry up if I was you!" The last statement was accompanied by a dramatic exit in which Lily threw a huge black, hooded cloak around herself.

"Sometimes I think the only reason she isn't in Slytherin is because she's muggle born!" Kora exclaimed after the subject had swept down the stairs.

"Yes, well, let's forget about her! Help me with these pillows," Binah said, changing the subject and drawing attention to herself. She had been attempting to fasten pillows around her middle, and was having a hard time of it.

"I get this side, you get that one," Bella instructed Kora in a business-like way. Shortly they had the pillows strapped to Binah, with a cream-colored blanket shaped over them to give her a vase-like shape. Her blonde hair was done up in a light-bulb type bun on the top of her head, and a huge piece of brown cardboard that they'd scrounged up was at the bottom of the vase shape. Binah's brown leggings were visible underneath the "table."

"What do you think?" she asked, twirling around.

"Erm, what are you supposed to be?" Kora responded uncertainly.

"A lamp, silly! Oh, I forgot the lampshade!" Binah wriggled the lampshade off the lamp beside her bed and placed it gently on her head.

Bella laughed and said, "Marvelous! Now let's go."

Meanwhile, the boys were fastening swords to their belts and settling feathered caps on their heads. Yes, my friends, they had dressed up as the Three Musketeers and young D'Artagnan. "To the Hall!" they cried, drawing their swords and rushing down the stairs. They nearly trampled the two sixth years that appeared to be waiting for someone before rushing out the portrait hole.

"Goodness me!" the Fat Lady sighed. "It seems like we end up doing more and more foolish things each year."

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Lily stood at the top of the stairs. She had to admit that the costume competition had been a good idea. It took people's minds off the threat of a growing dark wizard named Voldemort. _Vol de mort_, Lily thought amusedly, _'flight of dead' in French. Fitting, I suppose, seeing as how he supposedly should begin killing people soon. Maybe a good wizard named Voldemal, 'vol de mal', should come along and beat him. 'Flight of evil.'_

Lily's wandering thoughts were cut off as something rammed into her back and she began to fly towards the stairs. _So much for my dramatic entrance_, she thought grimly as she neared the banister. Her momentum was too much to stop, and would certainly hurt her if she went down the stairs at the rate she was going. She gathered just enough control to jump on the banister and slide down, standing up. It looked as if she were attempting to surf or something, the way she wobbled a bit but still remained on her feet. Just as the banister ended, she jumped and landed a few feet away, still standing.

Everyone applauded, and she, knowing that they didn't know it was her (because of the heavy cloak), took a few joking bows. 

"I'm so sorry!" James cried, rushing up to the girl he'd nearly murdered. "It was Dung, we were sword fighting and he pushed me and-"

"It's all right," Lily replied quietly. For once, people had been nice to her, congratulating her amazing save, and she owed the few precious moments of _fitting in_ to James. She pushed back her hood and said, "We all run into people sometimes."

James gaped at Lily as she pushed through the crowd. Had she just been decent to him? That was a weird thought.

"Who was it?" Remus asked as the other boys joined him.

"Lily. And she was actually decent! No remarks about my money or anything!" James responded, still in shock.

"Wow," Sirius breathed, also going into a major state of shock. "Wow," he repeated.

At that moment, it was time to go into the Great Hall to be judged. Lily had discarded her cloak, and stood in a place that was half in the light, half in the shadows, which added to the aura of mystery her costume demanded. The four boys stood a little ways off, and the other three girls were at the opposite end of the line.

The judges were teachers, prefects, and the Head Boy and Girl, all with the understanding that this was not to be a prejudiced decision. One of the older Gryffindor prefects laughed when they saw Binah's costume. It _was_ quite comical to look at. When he reached the other end of the line, though, the costume that stood out the most in his mind was Lily's. It wasn't just a pretty costume, but the whole thing suited her, as did the attitude she had assumed.

A disturbance a few places away from Lily broke out, and all the teachers, prefects and the Heads rushed to see what had happened. Or _who_ had happened, actually. Dung and Remus were sword fighting, while Sirius and James were bopping the nearest people on the head, egging on both their friends in turn.

Lily couldn't help it. She began giggling, then out right laughing. They all looked so silly! James and Sirius were holding off the Head Boy and Girl with swords as they attempted to reach the fighters and a third year had begun tugging on McGonagall's hand to distract her.

Lily's laughter seemed contagious. Soon, the entire population of Hogwarts was laughing, and the sword fight had ended with neither boy the victor; they both were rolling around on the floor, laughing.

"If I may have your attention!" Dumbledore announced. "You may all sit and eat, while the judges tally the votes."

Lily sat down near the other first-year Gryffindors, but they all ignored her for the most part. Aside from the boys, that is. They kept shooting her suspicious glances.

Suddenly losing her appetite, Lily pushed her plate away and buried her head in her folded arms. _Even when I try, they hate me. It isn't my fault I was raised always having my way! I wish Mum and Dad had said 'no.' They never did, and now I have no friends. Why am I cursed with this stupid life? _A picture of her family floated into Lily's mind, and she realized something she never had before. _I don't look like any of them! _Lily had green eyes and red hair, and none of her family did. Her facial features, skin shade, everything, was different. _Did they adopt me? If they did, why didn't they tell me?_ Lily began to get up and go to the Owlery to write them when she remembered she couldn't. She had to wait until after the costume contest. 

Dumbledore arose and began to talk. "There were a few categories for this friendly little contest. One was most original. Another was most fitting for the wearer. There was also most last-minute, most entertaining…" he went on for a moment more with the categories.

"For most original, we have Miss Arabella Figg, a first-year Gryffindor who dressed as a Sphinx!" Everyone applauded as Bella went forward to retrieve her ribbon. "Most last-minute was Miss Binah Dumbledore, also a first-year Gryffindor, who threw together a lovely lamp ensemble!" Everyone laughed as they clapped when they saw Binah's costume. "Most entertaining goes to Misters James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Mundungus Fletcher, more first-year Gryffindors, who were the Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan. I think we all agree that theirs was a most entertaining display!" Hogwarts roared its approval as the four went to receive their ribbons. "Most fitting for the wearer was, yes, yet another first-year Gryffindor, Miss Lily Evans! Her Gypsy Queen costume was not all that she was chosen for, but also her Gypsy Queen style!"

Lily collected herself for a long, silent walk up to the High Table, but to her surprise, it was only a brief pause before the Hall erupted with applause and catcalls. She gracefully accepted the ribbon, turned to face the Hall, and did a Gypsy-like curtsy before returning to her seat. As she was returning to her thoughts, she didn't notice the four boys filling in the seats around her.

"Lily?" Remus said tentatively. She was staring at a spot somewhere over Sirius's head, seemingly deep in thought. "Lily!" he said a bit louder, waving his hands in front of her face. "Anyone in there? Hello! Earth to Lily!"

"Hey, Evans, wake up!" Dung shouted in her ear.

"What?" Lily said, jumping. She looked around for a second, then seemed to notice that the four boys were all staring at her. "What?" she said, a bit calmer and less confused. "Whatever it was, I didn't do it, so…" she slowly inched her chair away.

"We just wanted to talk," James explained.

"Well, maybe not _just_ talk," Sirius said in an undertone meant for her to hear-but-not-hear, flashing an evil grin.

"Well, what is it?" Lily said.

"We just wanted to apologize for being so mean," James explained.

"You weren't mean," Lily said uncomfortably, "I mean, you play pranks on everyone, not just me, and it's not like you're going out of your way to be nasty." _Although you do go out of your way to avoid me and not talk_, she added silently.

"Well, it's not like we're going out of our way to try to be friends, either," Remus pointed out.

"Right, then, now that that's settled," Lily said, standing up, "I need to go owl someone."

"We'll go with you!" Sirius offered happily.

"No, no, I wouldn't want to put you to the trouble…" Lily began a very unconvincing argument.

"Nonsense. We're coming," Dung said, following her from the hall.

__

Fine, Lily thought. _They can come. It's not like they'll know what I'm going to owl Mum and Dad about, anyway._

When they reached the Owlery, Lily stopped and pulled out a piece of parchment and a pen from a hidden pocket in her skirt. She sat down and began to write.

__

Dear Mother and Father,

This is so hard to write, and I don't know how to ask this. But I need to know something. Was I adopted? If you want to know why I'm wondering this, it's because of our family. I look nothing like all of you! You've all been blondes or brunettes, with blue eyes or brown eyes. Red and green don't quite fit in there. And then there's the fact that I just don't look like you all physically, either. And height! Everyone else has always been a bit on the tall side, and I'm practically a midget.

I need the truth. I can't live a lie for the rest of my life, and I don't want to think that I've lived one even so far as this.

Lily

"Why do you think you're adopted?" Sirius asked. He'd been reading over her shoulder!

Near tears, Lily snapped, "You should know that, since you've been poking into my _private_ business. I'm surprised at you, Sirius Black, reading over people's shoulders. I would have thought that your parents raised you better than that."
    
    Lily swiftly tied the letter to her owl's leg and ran from the Owlery.

As she curled up in bed that night, she thought, _I should've been watching out. One of them _would_ do that, wouldn't they? I just hope Mum and Dad write me soon, with the truth…_ and she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of a land of clouds that she did not remember when she awoke.

James was awake, thinking. Why had Lily suddenly been, well, human? The Snob Queen changed after he'd accidentally knocked her down the stair rail. Then it hit him. Of course she'd be nice! Everyone had accepted her, laughed with her, something no one had done so far this year, and it was because he'd pushed her. She felt she owed him some kindness.

Y_eah, well, I wish she wouldn't be nice because of _that_, _James thought as he rolled over, attempting to sleep.

The next morning, Lily went to breakfast, watching the owls swooping around anxiously. She was still pretty mad at Sirius for butting into her personal business, but the truth was far more important than being nasty to him. Instead, she ignored him.

"Mornin'," Dung yawned, plopping into the seat next to her.

"Good morning," Lily said politely.
    
    "What's going on?" Remus queried, slipping into the chair across from them.

"Waiting for the post," Lily remarked as Dung yawned. 

"Ew, Dung, do you ever brush your teeth?" James asked, getting the full effect of his friend's show of sleepiness.

"Obviously he doesn't," Lily smiled. "He needs to smell like his name."

"Good one, Lily," Sirius said, sitting next to Remus.

"Did you hear something?" she pointedly asked Remus.

"Don't put me in the middle of this," he said, leaning back slightly with his hands up in a 'my-hands-are-not-getting-dirty' type of gesture.

"Fine, I won't," Lily said calmly, smearing more butter on her over-buttered toast.

After a few moments, her owl flew over, dropped the letter in her lap, and flew off quickly before it could get in more trouble. Lily had a feeling that her parents had taken her question out on the poor bird. Taking a quick account of the people around her, Lily picked up her bag and carried the letter off to her first class (Charms). She sat in her regular seat and slowly opened the letter with trembling hands.

__

Dear Lily,

Yes, you are adopted. (The writing was rather shaky)_ We meant to tell you earlier, but we just never did. I am really sorry for forcing you to be the one to tell yourself, and so is your father._

You'll probably be wanting the full story. Your father and I decided we wanted another child, but I was unable to have one. So we went to an orphanage, and found you there. You were a tiny, tiny baby that they had just found on the street. They hazarded a guess at your birthday, and made up a very incomplete birth certificate. That is all we know, darling, truly.

Write soon with more news!

Mother and Father

Lily blinked tears out of her eyes, and hands trembling with rage, she crinkled up the letter and threw it into the air. It burst into fire, and came down as a light drizzle, landing in Lily's hair. She sobbed silently into her arms until the bell rang, then hurriedly wiped her eyes on her sleeve and blew her nose. _It doesn't matter, _Lily thought savagely, _they probably don't love me. Obviously my first family didn't love me, seeing as how they left me on the streets, so why should these people love me?_

She kept the boys distant, learning nothing much past their names (and same for them with her). She knew they'd figured out she was, indeed, adopted, but was afraid to say anything to them in case they told the whole school. Quite a few people were orphaned in the school, but she had always prided herself on being born to a well-placed family, and she didn't want to lose that reputation.

The year flew by for Lily once she'd immersed herself in her studies. Since she had stopped being nasty to everyone- she was simply withdrawn now- she wasn't prone to be the victim of as many pranks. She needn't confront anyone during the Christmas and Easter holidays since she went home, and successfully came out on top in the classes, with James's scores being identical to her own and Sirius, Remus, Dung, Binah, Arabella, and Kora not far behind, mixed in with the Ravenclaws and Snape.

Curled up in a compartment of her own on the Hogwarts Express, staring out the window as the train chugged south, Lily felt that something important would happen this summer, although she didn't know what kind of important.

"Hello, Mother, hello, Father. Hi Pia!" Lily said as she approached her adoptive family. She'd always called her Mum and Dad 'Mum and Dad' when she wasn't in front of them, but she'd been trained to call them Mother and Father when addressing them.

"Hi, Lily," Petunia said, briefly embracing her sister. She stepped back and searched in vain for Binah.

Lily, knowing what Petunia was looking for, said softly, "She's going to a wizard orphanage. Her grandfather, the headmaster at school, is a really important wizard, and he wants his only family safe."

"Oh," Petunia responded in a detached manner. So much for being able to see her again.

Lily surprised them all by saying, "Can we go to a fast-food place?" At the look of shock printed on her parents' faces- Lily always wanted to go to the posh places, not a fast-food restaurant- she demanded, "What? I want some chicken fingers and a shake!"

"Are you sure you want to go there, dear?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"Yes."

As the sisters drew ahead, Mister Evans remarked to his wife, "I don't know what that school did, but I think I like it."

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The letter came mid-August, the day after Lily had purchased her school supplies. It was for Petunia, but it came by owl.

__

Dear Petunia Evans (and family),

I regret to inform you that there was an attack on Merciful Merlin's Orphanage three days ago. As you know, that was the residence of the late Binah Dumbledore. The Dark Lord, Voldemort, and his Death Eaters murdered her, along with several other children.

You have been invited to attend the funeral, as Binah spoke so highly of you. Two people of your choice may accompany you.

It went on to give details as to when the funeral was and such truck. Petunia turned stark white, and began to tremble. 

"Pia?" Lily asked with concern, gently touching her sister's arm, thinking she was about to cry.

Unfortunately, the trembling had been due to repressed fury as opposed to tears. "Get away from me, freak!" Petunia shouted, smacking away Lily's hand. "That was Binah's nickname for me, and it always will be! If I ever hear you using it again, I'll tell everyone what you are." Her voice lowered dangerously, "Never mention magic in front of me again. If magic were such a great thing as you make it out to be, Binah wouldn't be dead now. She'd be getting ready to go back to school!" As Lily made a move to calm her sister, Petunia completely snapped. With amazing strength, she picked up the kitchen chair and threw it at Lily. "Stay away from me. Freak! You abnormal girl! Stay away!"

Lily stood rubbing her arm, staring after her sobbing sister. She ran back to her room and began to sob. Why was the world against her? It wasn't her fault that Voldemort had begun killing and the imaginary white wizard, Voldemal, hadn't shown up to rescue everyone yet. Then, in a frenzy, she packed everything she would need for Hogwarts and the two extra weeks before she was going there and lugged her trunk to the front door. She whipped out parchment, ink and quill and scrawled a quick, explanatory note to her parents.

"If they don't want me here, I don't want to be here!" she muttered angrily as she lugged her trunk down the walk. "Let's see… how did that guy said he got the Knight Bus? Oh yeah, wand hand out…" As she stuck out her wand hand, a big, triple-decker purple bus pulled up, and an aging man jumped out. "I want to go to the Leaky Cauldron," Lily said before he could begin a promisingly long spiel about the Knight Bus.

Sulking rather, he told her the price and helped her tuck her trunk underneath a bunk towards the back of the bus, then told the driver to take off. A little while later, Lily was requesting a room for the remainder of her summer holidays in the Leaky Cauldron, not yet wondering about how she'd get to the train. _I'll worry about _that_ when the time comes_, she told herself, curling up in the bed. It was only six thirty at night, but she still managed to sleep until nine the next morning. When she ventured down the stairs in muggle clothes, she knew that she'd need to purchase some every-day robes to wear, especially if she was planning on returning the next summer.

After a quick breakfast of ice cream, Lily went to the robe shop and bought four new robes. One was blue-green, one was lavender, one was white, and the other was dark green. She ran back to her rooms and changed before slipping into the bookstore and poking through the shelves. One particular volume caught her eye. It looked very old, and (when she took it off the shelf) like a diary. Curious, she opened the first page and marveled at what she saw. It was a beautiful picture of-

She hurriedly shoved the book back onto the shelf when she heard familiar voices approaching. _Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, not them! _she thought frantically. _They'll _know_ that I ran away!_ She slipped down the outside of the aisles as they walked up the center.

"Oh, look at this!" Remus exclaimed.

"Get it," James said solemnly. "It'll be great for us to use on Snape."

"I like the looks of this," Sirius said in a very evil tone.

"Put that back, Sirius! We'll get in trouble if we even are seen touching that!" Dung hissed.

Lily didn't hear any more of their conversation as she had slipped out the door. _I am not going to come back out here until a few days before the first_, Lily decided. The muggle world would suit her just fine. But first, she had to go to the post service located in Diagon Alley.

"Excuse me, sir, but I would like to know if it is possible to block letters sent by owl post?" Lily said timidly as she faced the imposing man behind the counter.

"It is," he said severely.

"Well, then, I would like to block letters from these people," she said, pushing a piece of parchment across the counter.

"Petunia Evans, Robert Evans, and Sarah Evans to Lily Evans?" he asked, reading off the parchment.

Lily nodded violently and said, "Yes, them. they've been bothering me for a while, and I'd like to get them to leave me alone."

"That's three sickles for each person," the man said, tucking the parchment into a box.

Lily counted out the money, handed it over, and walked out of the post office feeling freer than she ever had before. She had just washed her hands of her family for the time being, and meant to enjoy herself.

Four days before she was due to return to school, Lily began wandering Diagon Alley. She'd pretty much exhausted the book shop and other stores along the street outside the Leaky Cauldron, so Lily gambled with the chance that no Hogwarts students should be at Diagon Alley this late.

She was poking through Flourish and Blotts the last day, attempting to find the book with the pretty picture in it, when a voice rang out across the store. 

"Lily Evans! Who would have thought that I'd find you here?" 

"Er- hello, Molly?" she tentatively greeted the fourth year Gryffindor.

"What are you doing here?" the older girl asked, coming nearer.

"Just looking," Lily said, glancing around and shrugging.

"Right. Well, I wanted to tell you now, since I saw you anyway, that we have a few open spots on the Quidditch Team. I've seen how you fly, and thought you might like to try out."

"Quidditch?" Lily knew how to play, but… "I don't think I'd be any good, and I don't have a broom."

"Nonsense, you'd do fine! And there's always Quality Quidditch Supplies for a broom, right over there."

"All… right then," Lily said, allowing herself to be steered over to the shop. Why was this girl being so nice to her? The money wasn't a problem, as Lily had always had a large amount of pocket money saved up, and her parents had opened her a Gringotts account during the Christmas hols. 

"Now, you have your average broom, like this one…" Lily tuned out the girl until she heard her say wistfully, "Then there's the best broom of them all. The IceFire 220, the fastest broom ever. Great control, everything. Unfortunately," she added, seeing Lily's look of 'I'm-buying-this-broom-in-about-three-seconds,' "no one can afford to buy one. Only the rich families, like the Blacks or the… or the…" she shuddered in disgust, "the Snapes can get them."

"I happen to be in one of those 'rich families,'" Lily reminded the older girl, "so I am getting that broom!"

"I take it you're going for the team?" Molly called after her as she marched up to the counter to pay.

"Yes!" Lily shouted over her shoulder. The counter happened to be very, very far away.

"Well, there's no way you won't make it, not with that broom!" Molly waved and skipped out of the store, her good deed for the day done.

"You know, I think I might actually make it!" Lily murmured to herself.

"Eh?" a man said, coming up from under the counter.

"Nothing," Lily said as she paid for the broom. She headed back to the room in the Leaky Cauldron, book forgotten, to pack away her extremely expensive purchase and to make sure that she had everything all set for the next day.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Let's see," Lily mumbled, running her finger down the list of numbers, "Tablecloths… Taco Table… Tango School… Tarot readings… yeah right! Majorly fake, most likely… Tattoos for Less… Ah! Here it is! Taxicab Rentals." Keeping her finger, she picked up the phone from the hook, and making sure that the door to the both was secured, dialed. "Hello? Yes, I need a cab to pick me up from in front of the book shop and record store on…" Lily paused for a moment, gave the name of the stores (after a quick peek outside) and then the name of the street. "So what's the earliest you can get here? That's fine, thank you." After a moment more, she hung up. {A/N: a very one-sided conversation, in't it?}

Lily lugged her trunk to the sidewalk outside the Leaky Cauldron, sat down on it, and began munching on the croissant she'd picked up. It was chocolate-filled. {A/N: those are sooooo good! Have you ever had chocolate-filled croissants? They are super yummy!}

After a short wait, a taxicab pulled up and a woman jumped out to help Lily fit her trunk into the back of the car, and then slammed the door shut after Lily had wedged herself in next to it.

"Where to?" the woman asked, smiling at Lily through the rear-view mirror. It was a scary smile, as her teeth were very crooked and rather pointy, not to mention a sick shade of yellow-brown.

"King's Cross Station," Lily replied promptly.

"Right then! Fasten your seat belt, we're in for a bumpy ride!" So said and cackling evilly, the lady took off at a break-neck speed, threading through traffic. On-coming traffic, that is. 

__

Is this lady insane? Lily thought as she gripped her trunk and the window pump. _She's trying to kill us! She must have a death wish… oh, my, that was a very close call. Maybe if I close my eyes, it will be better…_ Indeed, after she closed her eyes, the ride was much less scary.

"Here we are then! I'll go and fetch a trolley, and then help you with your trunk!" the (there was no other word to describe her) insane lady said happily, bouncing off. {A/N: yes, a crazy taxi driver, probably in her mid-forties and really ugly, bouncing off for a trolley. Icky thought…}

Lily hurriedly paid the driver and pushed her trunk off. _Dear lord, I will never ride in another taxicab my whole life,_ she thought fervently as she balanced the cage holding her owl on top of the trunk and trolley. She'd left her cat at home before she returned to Hogwarts after the Christmas break. It had proved too much work to care for the cat. The owl, at least, was taken care of, but pets other than birds were the students' own responsibilities. 

As Lily faced the barrier, thoughts flitted through her head. _Maybe I should try to be nicer this year. Bella and Kora will be devastated about… about… about the mishap at the orphanage, and I'm getting lonely. I won't go back home for the hols, I can't. I wonder if I'll make the Quidditch team? It would be nice if I could…_
    
    "Are you going to stand there staring all day, holding up everyone, or are you going to let the rest of us through?" a cold voice hissed in her ear. Lily shivered, and was about to make a remark back when he added, "Mudblood."

Instead of coming up with a clever retort, Lily turned and smacked the speaker across the face, then caught it in her hand and forced him to look at her. "Apologize," she ordered through gritted teeth.

"Why would I apologize to a mudblood?" he said, spitting at her.

She punched him in the groin and ordered again, "Apologize before you really regret it."

Leering down at her, he said scathingly, "What can the little mudblood do to me?"

"More than you want to know," Lily said, remembering the hand-to-hand combat training she'd received pre-Hogwarts.

"I will never apologize to an inferior that carries empty threats," he said disdainfully.

"If you won't apologize, your loss, Snape," she sweetly said, releasing him. As he began to smirk, she broke into a whirlwind of karate kicks and hits, leaving him bent over and gasping on the ground. She purposely left him conscious and without blood spilling all over the place. Bending low over him, she whispered, "I can do so much more than that. Watch out next time you pick a fight with me, pure blood." Somehow she had managed to make calling him a pure blood sound like an insult. Giving him a kick in the stomach for good measure, Lily turned and strutted through the barrier to load her trunk on the train.

"Did you _see_ that?" Sirius asked Remus, James and Dung in a low voice. "She slaughtered him! Remind me never to get on her bad side."

"Hate to break it to you, Sirius old buddy, but you already are," James said jovially, clapping his friend on the back, "Thanks to your obtrusive letter-reading at about Halloween time. She's still holding a grudge."

"Train time!" Remus reminded, pointing at the clock.

"Woo, woo! Chugga chugga chugga chugga woo woo!" Dung said, moving around with his arms pumping like a train's wheels.

"Let's go before they embarrass us more," James remarked to Sirius. Suddenly, as if realizing something, he said, "Never mind, you'll just embarrass me, too. I'll go on my own!" He ran forward through the barrier, laughing at the looks on his friends' faces. After he passed through, he stuck his head back out and yelled, "Come on, then!"

The other three laughed as they saw their friend's head hung on the barrier wall, then ran after him. Several on-looking muggles scratched their own heads. The tiny girl beating up the tall boy had drawn their attention, and then she disappeared right in front of the barrier. Then, several crazy boys came and had a loud discussion, during which one also disappeared through the barrier. Of course, his head has to reappear for a moment before disappearing again, followed by the other boys. They would have pondered over this if it hadn't been for the sudden appearance of a tall man wearing robes who shouted a single word ("Obliviate!") and their memories of the incidents being wiped clear.

Which could explain why, when they all came to their senses the moment after he disappeared, none of them could account for the mutilated boy on the floor, and none of them really wanted to touch him. Luckily for Snape, it wasn't long until a fellow Slytherin showed up to peel him from the floor and escort him onto the train.

*** *** *** ***

I know that this is a really bad stopping place, but as it is, the chapter is two to three times longer than the others, and I wanted to post it. R&R!


	7. Merciful Merlin's Orphanage

****

The Princess and the Pauper

__

One is a spoiled, rich brat from a muggle family. The other, a poor yet satisfied pauper that comes from a wizarding family. Could they ever meet and… fall in love? Not your average Cinderella story, I promise you!

****

Sierra Sitruc- For now she's nice… she seems to be getting a bit violent and using that sports training she received pre-Hogwarts. I know, I liked Binah, but I killed her anyway for a reason… or two… or three, I think I have. Three good reasons. I'll put 'em below. I hope this is kinda soon… mesa not having much compu time any more!

****

Flower- Heyy! Yourself! Thanks, and I will! ;-D

****

Taracollowen- you'll find out whether they know or not soon enough, thank youpe! Hehe. Did take a turn, didn't it? welpers, we'll see what happens next!

****

Lady Ani- Well, I'm glad that you at least love the guys! We can't have you NOT loving the guys, can we? I liked Petunia at the beginning, but then I realized that that was a BAD thing to do. She's supposed to be mean and nasty, not nice and understanding. I was using Binah to make Lily seem less likeable, though, 'cause of the way Lily treated her. Oh twell! You like who you like and you hate who you hate, that's just how things work! 

****

AngelStar88- yes, she had to die, reasons stated below. I'm sorry about the no Peter thing and you being glad about it… find out in this chapter what I'm talking about. Thanks for reviewin', and I read the chapter (checking for more in a sec, don worry).

****

Hufflepuffer242- yay! Somebody's interest was piqued by the picture! Woohoo! Really, it's something important, but you don't find out why until a while later. And thank you!

****

Hyper Princess- he sho' did, sista! Sorry. Wow, talk about moodswings! You cheer someone on, get sad, then get really excited, all within three sentences. What an accomplishment!

****

Puddles- thank you, yes poor Binah, and I don't think it will quite yet. Here's more!

****

SilverSickle17- sorry, can't remember. What great feedback! **HEY, EVERYONE ELSE, CHECK THIS!** this is how NOT to review: _geez, how much sugar did you have in your bloodstream while writing that last bit? _I mean, what does that tell anyone? Emma, you need to learn how to review. That was the longest chapter of anything I've EVER written, and you can only comment on the last half page! I'm so loved, aren't I?

****

HPMystery- thank you! Wow, forever is a REALLY long time. Her daddy isn't Voldie! Actually, he could be. I'm not a hundred percent certain who her father is. Yeppers, poor Binah! Yeppers, Lily's getting nicer! Notice the word GETTING and the word NICER. She's not necessarily going to be a bundle of joy, here!

****

Thistlemeg- thanks! That just about covers everything… well, you know dear ol' Dumbly, I thinkies that he might just get better.

****

Saphire- I will and thanks!

****

Sailor Capricorn- yeah, she wasn't around long enough to get REALLY attached to, and I kinda moved the focus off of her before I killed her. People would probably be REALLY mad if I had showed her going to the orphanage and stuff… just imagine Snape looking a few years younger, maybe not as nasty, and definitely shorter. And not intimidating yet. He's twelve! A million dollars would be nice…

**Silverkonekotsukari**- tankies! I twill continue!

****

Princess Gin-Gin- thanks! Yes, everyone is getting sad and dead and mad. All at once! Hehe sorry.

****

Clavel- I will! I hope this is quick!

****

Erin- thank you! Yeah, it twas sad, but perhaps not so. I know what's gunna happen! Hehehee dundundun! Welpers, here's the next chapter.

****

Nasha L. T. M. Potter- here's more, thanks, and I'm glad it's different. Sometimes the same is good if it's good, but different is good if it's good or just different. Did that make any sense?

Kay, here are my reasons for killing Binah! 1) It's an excuse for Pia to hate magic and Lily. 2) She was getting to be a bit too much of the main character, and seemed to be the only thing holding Lily out from having friends. 3) It brings the orphanage into the story [read this chap to find out how] which is necessary. 4) It makes Lily a bit nicer. 5) This reason I can't tell you yet, but I'll let y'all know when it comes 'round!

*** *** *** ***

Lily changed into her school robes immediately and found a completely empty compartment to sit in and think. She seemed to be thinking a lot, lately, about her family. She couldn't talk to them, she really couldn't. It would just make her more miserable than she was now. She also realized that she couldn't start being really nice to everyone, but she would try to talk a bit more maybe, and not be completely withdrawn. If she went too quickly, though, she'd scare them all. Completely. 

The four boys were getting frustrated. They couldn't find Lily anywhere to compliment her, and if they didn't claim a compartment soon there would be no room left.

"Come on, let's just sit in here," James said as the others turned to leave the empty compartment they'd found.

"Okay," Dung agreed, plopping down onto a seat. "I'm dead on my feet, any ways."

"Me too," Remus said, sitting.

"I'm hungry!" Sirius announced.

"Is that all you ever think about?" Dung asked disgustedly.

"Well, as the great George Bernard Shaw once said, 'There is no sincerer love than the love of food.' And no, I do think about other things, like pranks, not getting detentions, and my schoolwork." He shuddered at the word 'schoolwork.' Even though all of them did work at it so they wouldn't get in trouble, none of them really enjoyed it.

"Just wait for the cart," James ordered, rummaging through Sirius's trunk. "Let's play Exploding Snap." He pulled out a deck of the cards, and the four boys settled down to play the game.

Bella and Kora were also having fun in their compartment. The Hufflepuff that they'd sat with in Charms the previous year had brought a few of her friends in, and all were playing Gobstones. It was funny to see their faces turn purple when they got squirted. Little did the two Gryffindors know, soon they would be very sad with certain information on a certain friend of theirs that had been in a certain, currently blown up, orphanage.

That was how the train ride passed: thinking, Exploding Snap, and Gobstones. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Now that the Sorting is completed," Dumbledore began, (The only notable new Gryffindors were Frank Longbottom and Shirley Jones. Both held potential for trouble making.) "I would like to make an announcement. As some of you may or may not have heard, over the summer holidays Merciful Merlin's Orphanage was attacked by the dark wizard that is rising to power, Voldemort. There were few deaths, among them Binah Dumbledore, who would have been a second year Gryffindor. As the orphanage itself was blown up, we are taking in all the children that went there. They have already been sorted, and I will call them in momentarily. I expect you all to treat them with the utmost respect, and refrain from asking any questions about what happened. It was truly traumatic, and I do not want any of our new students reliving the event unwillingly.

"So, will you please all seat yourselves as follows: First years at the closest end of the table, seventh years at the farthest, and the rest organized accordingly in between." After the changing of seats had occurred, he simply said, "Be kind," and threw open the doors to the Great Hall. A large group of children of various ages entered, glancing around nervously, and headed to separate tables and different sections of those tables.

The food appeared and talking began. The four people seated around the second year Gryffindors glanced at each other, and the one boy began introductions.

"Hello," he said cheerily. "I'm Peter Pettigrew, second year, I guess. Who're you?"

"James Potter," James said, sticking his hand out and shaking Peter's. "That's Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Mundungus Fletcher (we call him Dung), Arabella Figg (call her Bella or die), Kora Schnozzlewoggen, and Lily Evans." He pointed to each person in turn, and Lily was surprised to have been introduced.

"I'm Electra Tejada," a girl with bright blond hair and bright violet eyes said. (A/N: Lots of brights cuz she's Electra. Tay ha da.)

"As this boy so cleverly pointed out, I'm Bella. Should I go over everyone else again? No? Okay, that's Lily Evans, Kora Schnozzlewoggen, Dung, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and James Potter." Bella was talking very fast and trying not to laugh.

"Thanks," Electra said dryly. "I _so_ needed to hear that again."

"I am Kay Oss. Spelt K-A-Y O-S-S, thank you, but most people just call me Chaos, y'know, C-H-A-O-S. Don't know what my parents had been thinking about when they named me. Couldn't ask either, they died when I was two." The girl speaking looked as if she were the exact opposite of her name. She appeared calm, with her light brown hair and pale blue eyes. 

"Kora of the icky last name," Kora said. "Do YOU need introductions again?" Chaos shook her head. "Good, 'cause I'm not going over them."

The last girl straightened up a bit, and the other three began grinning like mad. She brushed her short black hair out of her equally black eyes, and took a _deep_ breath. "Greetings, all Hogwartians. I am Bronwyn Zsa Zsa Talia Giselle Letitia Ninnette Samala Elnore Aurelia Regina Kamilan Umeko Gabrielle Morgan Matuschanskayasky the third. But you can just call me by my middle name, Rhiannon. Oh, and Kora, I guess my last name beats yours," she added, sticking out her tongue. The other three children from Merciful Merlin's began laughing at the 'Hogwartians'' shocked expressions. {A/N: I wanna name the first daughter I have that. Fun name! Zsa Zsa is pronounced like jue jah. Make up the rest if you can't figure it out!}

"Her mother and father were a Duke and Duchess, but they lost their holding. She was still stuck with the name," Electra informed in a stage whisper.

Lily began laughing with the new kids. The Hogwarts students gave her blank looks. "What? I just realized that this was a very funny situation. I mean, you should have seen your expressions!" She continued laughing. Wiping a tear from her eye, she addressed Rhiannon. "Are you going to ever make us repeat your name? I'm Lily, by the way."

"Actually," Rhiannon said primly, shaking out her napkin, "there will be a quiz later."

Everyone's (minus Merciful Merlin folk and Lily) jaws dropped even lower, if that was possible. "You're joking!" Sirius gasped.

"No," Rhiannon said, shaking her head.

"How much later is later? And does spelling count, or is it verbal?" Lily asked, taking notes on her napkin. She had most of the name written out already.

"Well, even if spelling did count, you'd have no problem," Chaos said, peering over her shoulder. "You've got it all right. Except you spelt 'third' wrong."

"What? How'd I do _that_?" Lily exclaimed, looking closer.

"Well, first you…" Electra began, but Lily interrupted.

"It was rhetorical. No need to answer!" The original Hogwarts students were still looking at her funny. "What is wrong with you all?"

"We just found out that Binah _died_, and you are able to laugh and joke?" Bella hissed.

"I've had time to recover," Lily said stiffly. "I found out the day after it happened, as my sister was invited to the funeral."

"You knew Binah?" Chaos looked rather shocked. "I didn't really know her. None of us did, actually, because she came so late. I guess she was here for a while. Most of the people that got into Hufflepuff were her friends."

"Oh," Kora said simply.

Lily settled back as the subject swiftly changed, letting the conversation wash over her. Maybe, just maybe, this year wouldn't be quite so bad if she had some of the new people as her friends. She knew Bella and Kora weren't going to happen yet, but Rhiannon seemed to like her, and Chaos and Electra might, too.

She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, unaware that everyone else was still awake.

"Hey, guys, over here," Kora whispered, poking all the other girls. "Come on my bed."

A moment later, Bella, Kora, Electra, Chaos and Rhiannon were seated on Kora's bed.

"We just wanted to talk about people," Bella began lightly. "Slytherins are awful. I think you could've guessed by who ended up there from your school, right?" The three girls nodded their heads. "Hufflepuffs are okay, but they aren't really brilliant or anything. Ravenclaws are bookworms, and rather dull. Now, you three are lucky to have landed in the best house, Gryffindor." Bella and Kora grinned broadly. "We are smart, AND have fun while we're at it."

"Now, out of Slytherins, the people we hate the most are Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy. Snape is our year, Malfoy two years ahead." Kora produced two photos of the mentioned boys. "These are their faces. Remember them. They are our main targets for pranks." She fished out another photograph from under her pillow. "This is the fourth on the Gryffindor's Most Wanted list. First is Snape, second Malfoy, third Slytherins in general. The name of this person is Lily Evans. She was evil, mean to Binah, rude to everyone else. She's a spoiled, rich brat, and you want nothing to do with her."

Rhiannon looked surprised, and said, "But she seemed nice at supper."

"Have you ever heard of acting lessons?" Bella queried. "She's taken them, no doubt. Her family is a very prominent muggle one."

"Well, I guess we'll take your word for it," Electra said dubiously. Chaos was quiet. She seemed a bit like Remus in that way, not at all chaotic as her name suggested. Sort of like Sirius's was the opposite of him. He wasn't that serious.

"Well, that was lesson one of who not to deal with. In the morning, introductions to the school and residents!" Kora said brightly, shoving everyone else out of her bed. "Sleep well!" Her curtains closed with a little WOOSH!

In the boys' dorms, a similar conversation was occurring, this one including everyone in the room. The congregation spot was Peter's bed.

"Petey boy!" Dung said, bouncing onto Peter's bed.

"Hello, Dingy Dung," Peter replied, smiling. "Please don't call me Petey boy, or I will come up with the most horrendous name imaginable to call you. Not that you can do much worse than Dung, but it's possible." 

Dung stuck his tongue out at Peter while Sirius, Remus and James laughed. "We just wanted to give you the scoop on the people," Sirius informed him.

"Basically, stay away from all Slytherins unless you are pranking them, don't share secrets with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, but you can talk to them, and Lily Evans is trouble with a capital T." Remus was sounding very energetic, which wasn't a good thing for eleven at night the day before school starts.

"Why is Lily Evans trouble?" Peter asked.

James replied simply with, "She's a spoiled rich snob that is unbearable now that she found out she was adopted and has no idea who her parents are."

"Oooh, I get it," Peter said knowingly. "Actually, I don't really, but any ways! I think I know what to do to the Slytherins tomorrow morning."

The other four grinned at each other. They'd all get along very nicely. Very nicely indeed.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Morning, everyone!" Lily said cheerfully as she brushed out her still amazingly long hair.

The five other girls glared at her and left the room.

"All… righty then!" she said sadly.

"Watch what you're doing with your hair, dear," the mirror cautioned.

"I'm not worried about that right now," she responded tartly, but stopped brushing her hair up anyway. 

She grabbed out a small, dark green book with a blood red lock on it and opened it up.

__

Dear Diary,

I have no idea what just happened. I was perfectly nice at the feast last night with the new girls. I even think that Rhiannon liked me and that Electra and Chaos thought I was okay. But then this morning, I said "good morning" and everyone glared at me.

Are Bella and Kora turning everyone against me? I'd almost bet that Peter won't talk to me now. James, Sirius, Remus and Dung probably said something. This year was starting to look so much better, and now my chances are ruined. Why is my life turning against me?

I don't think I'll try out for the Quidditch team. If I made it (which I probably wouldn't) everyone would say I cheated and that I should be kicked off to give someone truthful a chance. Maybe I'll get some homework for tonight. If I don't, I'll do something to get myself a detention so I can do SOMETHING to stay out of the room. Or maybe I could just go to the library.

Oh, yes, before I forget to write it down: Remus Lupin is a werewolf. I figured it out this summer when I was reading some of the books in Flourish and Blotts. He's always ill around the full moon, and very tired after. There was also the incident with the boggart last year in Charms, when he opened the book closet. We all thought it had turned into a crystal ball, but it really was a moon.

Well, now that I've avoided breakfast and everyone glaring at me, I should go get my schedule.

LCE

PS Isn't it odd how my initials almost spell lice? I've never had lice in my life, and I certainly don't plan on it. Maybe I'll start signing this something else.

Lily sighed and closed her book, then ran downstairs to retrieve her timetable and get to class.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"She looks sad," Chaos whispered to Electra and Rhiannon.

"Well, it's her own fault then. Remember what Kora and Bella told us?" Electra said.

"Maybe we should get our own opinions," Chaos said reasonably.

Rhiannon snapped, "I'll believe them. If she was so rude to Binah, she can't be that great."

"Maybe she's changed," Chaos said quietly. So quietly that neither of her friends heard her.

Two tables over, the boys were having a slightly similar conversation. "Are you _sure_ that she's all that bad?" Peter asked, glancing sympathetically at Lily. He understood what it was like to be pushed aside. When he had gone to the muggle school before his parents died, all the students had picked on him because of his slightly Hufflepuff-ish look but Ravenclaw-like brain. Not quite Ravenclaw, actually. He was of normal intelligence to be expected in a twelve-year-old boy.

"Yes," Sirius said firmly. "You should've seen what she did to Snape, and I'm on her bad side too. We need to _stay away_."

"Know something, Sirius?" Remus said quietly. "I don't get why _we_ can't be nice because you were dumb enough to read the letter she was writing. I think she might not be all that bad."

"Are you insane, Remus?" Sirius sounded very shocked. "Remember Binah?"

"I propose an experiment," Dung announced.

"Sounds good."

"How about we see how she treats the house elves in the kitchen?" James suggested. "If she treats them like she treated Binah, she hasn't changed, but if not, maybe she's okay."

"Fine," Sirius said, pouting a bit.

"It's going to take a while, though," Dung said. "We're going to have to get her to trust us or someone else so she'll go with them."

The other boys fell silent to think about how to accomplish this task. The same thought seemed to dawn on them at the same time.

"The girls," the five chorused.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"No way."

"Not happening."

"Nu uh."

"Are you serious?"

These responses were, respectively, Kora, Electra, Bella and Rhiannon. 

"Yes, I am Sirius," Sirius, the addresser, responded. "What about you, Chaos?" He peered closely at Chaos's face to see her reaction.

"You know," she said slowly and quietly, "I think I'll do it. I told _them_ that she seemed nice, but they didn't seem to think so. You don't either," she said the last bit flatly.

Taken aback by her perception and bland way of stating it, the opposite of himself, he only nodded.

"So, I need to become friends with her, then bring her to the kitchens, and see how she treats the House Elves? If she's nice to them, she's nice, and if she's mean to them, she's mean. Makes sense. Ta!"

Everyone else looked staggered at her quick acceptance. She really seemed to like Lily already, and wasn't just doing this for the sake of the experiment. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Lily sat on the roof of the castle, munching on a bit of toast. She'd found this spot the previous year, by climbing out the dorm window, pulling herself onto the roof, and climbing up the slope. It was a very pretty view, but she was currently busy scrawling away in her diary.

__

I know they're up to something. I can feel it. They were eyeing me all today like I was something poisonous, but after Charms that changed. They were looking at me, calculating. I think they're going to try something, and I don't know if I'll like it.

She continued writing as she finished her toast, then picked up her wand to practice the new charm she'd found. While she was still writing. {A/N: How is this possible? Well, she's a righty, but a lefty with a wand, remember?}

__

I'll just have to be careful around all of them from now on. They think I'm still mean, and that I'm acting when I am nice. I wish I had a sister to talk to that didn't hate me.

Lil E. (get it? Lily, Lil E. Fine, it's not that funny, but it's better than 'lice'.)

Sighing, Lily stretched out on the roof and closed her eyes for a short nap before going in for supper.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Professor Dumbledore says that Lily is fine and has been living in the Leaky Cauldron," Sarah Evans said, looking up from the letter. "Should we put more money in her Gringotts account, just to be safe? I don't want her to run out of money and then starve because she refuses to come back. You know her temper."

"Mother, don't worry so much. You know she'll find a way to get her own money. I'm going to go make sure everything is packed," Petunia said, slipping upstairs. 

"I'm so worried, Rob," Sarah said softly to her husband. "So worried."

"I know. I am too," he said, embracing his wife. "We'll put more money in tomorrow."

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

__

Where'd she go to? I'm getting really worried! No one's seen her since just after classes, and now I'm hopelessly lost. Chaos was wandering around the school, attempting to find Lily. She was having absolutely no luck. _Great! Here comes Peeves! Just the ghost you need to talk to when you're lost and looking for someone._

"Oh, look, it's an ickle little orphan. Looking for Mommy and Daddy?" Peeves cackled.

Now, there are certain lines you can and cannot cross. Peeves had just crossed one that he most definitely shouldn't have. "Waddiwasi!" Chaos whispered, pointing her wand at a door that had been locked shut with gum in it for a few years. The gum zoomed out of the lock and up Peeves's nose. {A/N: Now we can know where Remus got that…} She muttered a very bad word and started down the steps she'd stumbled across. Unfortunately for her, they were the ones with the disappearing step, and she sank down to her waist and stuck.

"Shoot," just about summed up her feelings. Unfortunately for her yet again, no one came down those stairs on the way to supper from their common rooms.

Lily woke up and swore softly. It was dark out already, and stars were appearing in the velvety darkness of the sky. She stuffed her things into her bag and took off running across the roof, using the shortcut that no one else had ever thought about. She slipped in a window and began to run down the stairs, jumping the middle step out of habit. She stopped about three steps later and turned around.

"What are you doing in there?" she cautiously asked Chaos.

"Having a party," the other girl muttered. Then she looked up with a pleading expression. "Help?"

Lily laughed, set down her bag, and pulled the other girl out of the step and settled her on the stair below. "You need to remember that step," she explained as she scooped up her bag. Turning and running down the stairs, she added, "As you've probably noticed, people don't come this way too often!"

Chaos was silent for a moment, staring after the girl. Then she realized something. "Lily?"

Lily turned and faced her, walking quickly backwards. "Yes?"

"I don't know where I am."

"Well, hurry up then, or we'll miss all the food!" Lily said.

Chaos grinned and jumped down the stairs, catching up to the red head. _Really, I don't know why they think she's so awful. She has no reason to be helping me, yet she is._

*** *** *** ***

I was gunna have them all be mean, but that wouldn't be nice, so Chaos might be pretty okay. Anyone wanna guess at the pairings I'm going to have? I'll read and review anyone's fics who gets them right! Do them by the boys, not the girls, kay? Hehehehe toodles!

R&R!


	8. Quidditch and Pranks and Rooftops, oh my...

****

The Princess and the Pauper

__

One is a spoiled, rich brat from a muggle family. The other, a poor yet satisfied pauper that comes from a wizarding family. Could they ever meet and… fall in love? Not your average Cinderella story, I promise you!

Kay, people, I just want to say a few things about the new characters. Namely, Chaos. Chaos is like Sirius in the way that her name is the opposite of her personality. Sirius usually isn't serious, and Remus is usually level-headed. Chaos is like Remus. I'm just finding it very hard to write about a calm, collected person, as I am definitely not calm or collected. My friends think, and I agree, that I should be in an asylum, just because of my level of hyperness. Got that? Good. Rhiannon is just Rhiannon… one of those over-dramatic people. Then Electra is an in-between. She's not as loud and outgoing as Rhiannon, but she isn't as reserved as Chaos. Do you kinda get that? If not, oh well, you will eventually.

****

Silversickle17- If you think Chaos is like me, I think you're the one who should get your head checked. Hel-lo! We're talking a Remus-like character, here, not a Sirius-like character. Who would you compare me to more? Remus or Sirius? (y'know, your usual stereo-typed Sirius and Remus) That was a MUCH better review. Hehee the third book was pretty good. I think JK should write the Lily and James books, don't you? That's be sooo awesome. Or, better yet, hand the writing over to ME! With the necessary information to write such a story, of course. Then again, my whole plot (which hasn't surfaced yet) would be down the drain. 

****

Taracollowen- Oh, you'll be surprised what's gunna happen at the beginning of third year ::snickers uncontrollably:: I just have a question for you. Was the Care of Magical Creatures teacher name Kettleburn or Kettlebottom? I think it was burn, but I can't be certain. I'm glad you like Chaos.

****

Hyper Princess- she's already had all of first year to cope with it, mesa supposes. I would SO totally spend my time on the roof if I could, or running around the castle like a maniac. Or both. Wait, not LIKE a maniac. I AM a maniac. Kay, sorry, I'll finish these responses so I can write the chapter.

****

Princess Gin-Gin- Erm, aside from the L/J, I'm sorry. But I congratulate you on remembering Kora. No one else did ::pouties:: I'll probably end up reading your fic anyway… after I'm done with all the good L/J ones I can find ::dreamy gaze:: I LUV L/J fics. Thank you!

****

Sailor Capricorn- ::eyes bug out of head:: you remembered Kora, and paired her properly! Sh, I didn't say that. Sorry that the others are wrong :-P hehee. Shingo's Eyes… I'll have ta read that one.

****

Ashlynn Black- thumbs up on the first two!

****

Lily Evans- yep, they are for now. Tankies! Glad ya like Chaos.

****

Lily Evans Potter- Did I mention Hogwarts, a History? At any rate, there have more than likely been several revisions to it (I know for a fact there have been), so it could be very likely that a new version came out shortly after the ceiling was changed. No problem nit-picking, that makes for fun debates via reviews/replies! I love debating. Yes, that would throw a twist on the story, but we'll see how things proceed ;-)

****

Sierra Sitruc- hey girl, tis no problem you didn't get it. I've been reading at least one of your fics anyway. Thanks, and I will!

****

Apollonia- oopsies, sorry 'bout that. I thought it was Mr. Weasley for some reason… I better go back and read the books before #5 comes out! And thanks.

****

Saphire- tankies!

****

Hazeleyez- thanks, I most certainly will.

****

Sailorartemis2000- here's more!

****

Kit Cloudkicker- I put some reasons for Binah dying somewhere in the last chappie… and Lily's parentage is a major part of the fic, so it will eventually come out. I just need to think of who her daddy is gunna be. Two major things have to happen first.

****

Clavel- I think it's silly that people would just follow other people's opinion of other people… but unfortunately they do. Luckily, there's usually at least one person around like Chaos or your friend or… well, me, I guess. I don't really go out of my way to introduce myself to new people (the 'popular' kids beat me to it) but I hold nothing against their records. It only bugs me when they have a majorly bad attitude because of what people think. There is one girl in a few of my classes that I've tried talking to, but she just shuts herself off from everyone else.

****

DragonRoyalty- I LOVE watching Irish Step Dancing, but I know next to nothing about it's history or anything, and my parents can't afford to let me do lessons on top of tap, jazz and ballet. Maybe you could help? I want it to be a pretty big thing in later years, but I don't want all the information to be wrong. Erm, is it all right if I e-mail you with my plans and you could help me refine them to match everything you know? If it is, could you just tell me in a review? All it has to say is 'okay' or something, no worries. I'm glad that you did review, it means a lot to me.

****

Gwen Ella Rosadora- Hey! Thanks! I'm glad you like the speed. Thanks again, and I will!

****

TGWIOWHP- I like that name, Tgwiowhp. She had ta die cuz she had ta die. Don't worry, you can't call me anything to cause me to slaughter you. I'm very calm when it comes to name calling ;-) Actually, Chaos isn't Remus's opposite, she's his same. Do ya get my drift? No? too bad for you! :-P

****

Anneliese- I know long chapters aren't bad, but from me before now, they've been unusual. If you don't get what I'm saying, you should go to my website to read 'Rini Hood.' It WAS a SM/Robin Hood cross-over, but I didn't feel like working on it any more and only two of my friends ever reviewed it, so I didn't have encouragement to go on. Oh well! I'm glad you like my writing style! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. I'm happy that you think my stories are cool! My brother is looking at me funny 'cause I'm smiling. Hehe can you really hear Sirius saying that? I could. Hehehe he did need a kick, didn' he? I decided he wasn't being mean enough for my taste, so I am bringin' him in! mwahahaha… the thing about the first quote (where Sirius mentions schoolwork), did you like it 'cause it was totally normal that somebody would hate schoolwork, or that he mentioned he actually cared about it? I'm trying not to make my characters too much like the stereo-types they've been given, such as Sirius only pulling pranks and getting detentions. I find it unlikely that anyone would do that. Yes, it is ominous for the Slytherins… mwahahahaha! (when I first wrote that, it came out 'mwagagaga' because I accidentally had my finger on the 'g' key.) It is sad, isn't it? the summer is going to be sadder. Thanks for the compliment to my writing in general! 

****

Emma- you only got one right in the second set of guesses, baka. Heheheeeeeeeeee

****

Jellybean Oasis- thanks, and I'm glad you like Chaos! I'm going to make one Gryffindor completely evil in an underhanded way… and it most likely won't be who you expect! (not naming anyone ::coughPETERcough:: who you would expect. It's going to be another character.)

****

Ezma- holy jesus girl, hold your horses! Wait, you haven't got any. YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL?!?! ARE YOU INSANE!?!? WE DEFINITELY DO NOT GO TO A HOGWARTS, WHICH WOULD BE EXCUSABLE TO WANT TO GO BACK, BUT BACK TO OUR JAIL? CRAZY, MENTAL PERSON ALERT! THE GIRL WANTS TO GO BACK TO EVIL MRS. FOSTER! AHHHHHHHH!

****

Tgwiowhp- Why are you banned from fluff? I didn't think Usa's Destinies was fluffy at all, especially compared to other things I've read. I tend not to write much in the romance department, and the summer in that is going to be simply crazy. And you can _only_ read G? So no PG? Is this a parent-imposed ban? How can they decide? Well, I'm glad you can still read this…

****

Lady Knight of Kennan- thanks! I'm really sorry, but I'm not going to be able to say anything incredibly witty right now. I'm tired! Sorry to say, but you only got one pairing right (and guess which one… hm… could it be… LJ?) but good guesses! You left out Peter, though. Night…

****

AngelStar88- All your questions will be answered soon, no worries. I actually have a plot going here, connected with a seemingly minor thing that's come up… ::cough:: anyhow, I'm stealing that same plot for another story (my own and not even borrowing characters from anyone) I'm working on. Maybe if it's good enough, I can get it published! Well, one can dream… thanks for reading.

*** *** *** ***

After Lily had shown Chaos through a mind-boggling assortment of passages leading to the Great Hall, the latter was called over to sit with the other second year Gryffindors. The former sighed and assumed her usual place, alone, at the end of the table farthest away from the teachers and facing the rest of the hall. Very few people noticed her when she was there: the seat was practically in the corner, and shadows were thrown over her figure.

This seating arrangement was probably why nobody ever figured out just whom it was that played the prank on the Slytherins…

It was about halfway through the meal, and Lily had pulled out her wand as she sipped some of her water. She grinned evilly and whispered a few quick words, accompanied by some wrist flicks. The food at the Slytherin table spontaneously combusted, and a flock of sea gulls was stuck to the benches where the Slytherins had been seated. They weren't just any sea gulls, though. They were fluorescent green and hot pink striped, with bright purple polka dots over that, and they were all singing a very bad rendition of 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' in a round. 

The student body began laughing, as did several of the teachers (Professor Flitwick, who had replaced Ki, Professor Kettleburn, who was the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrel, and Professor Vector were among these). Dumbledore was chuckling softly as he stood and announced, "I would appreciate whoever did this to remove the spells, please."

An owl swooped in and dropped a letter on his head. He read it quickly and added, "Never mind."

Lily smiled. In newspaper letters, she had written a short message: _The spell will wear off on its own. _

It was a very slow wearing off process. The first thing to happen was the Slytherins resuming their natural form, still pink, green and purple and singing, though, and glued to their seats. They stopped singing, but couldn't eat as the food was on fire, soon after that. They came unstuck from their seats as the meal ended, and all sprinted out of the Hall as quickly as they could. The strange coloring hadn't worn off yet. 

She fell asleep that night to the whisperings of Chaos, Electra and Rhiannon, who were wondering just who had pulled that prank on the Slytherins, and the quiet, stifled sobs of Bella and Kora. This worried Lily. She hoped that the other girls would be able to recover from their friend's death soon, or they would be merely the shells of the people they once were.

In the boys' dormitories, a similar discussion went on until they were very drowsy, but a remark from Sirius brought everyone back to reality with a THUMP!

"So, Remus, where do you go for your transformations? You know, on the full moons."

"WHAT?" James, Dung, and Peter hissed. Remus turned white.

"You hadn't figured it out yet? Remus here is a werewolf," Sirius yawned, rolling over.

"Is that true, Remus?" James asked the very white boy.

"No," came the too-quick response.

"You know, it is," Dung said slowly, piecing everything together. Peter wisely remained silent. He hadn't been Remus's friend for very long, hadn't had the opportunity to figure it out on his own.

Remus moaned and buried his face in his hands. "I wasn't allowed to tell anyone, and I thought you wouldn't figure it out," he mumbled from behind them.

"We don't care, Remus," Peter assured him. "And we won't tell anyone. Will we, guys?"

"No, no, we won't tell anyone," the other three assured him.

Remus smiled weakly, "Thanks. I didn't want to end up hated, like Snape, or Malfoy, or Evans… is she really that bad?" He had been quick to turn the subject away from himself.

"We won't know until Chaos can figure it out," James shrugged. "I suggest we don't interfere. Might set us back."

"True," Sirius said ponderously, "but we wouldn't want Chaos to become to attached to the girl if we just find out that she is still a first-class snob."

"For all you know, you could have a pre-arranged marriage with her," Dung reminded. "Now, how would you feel about _that_?"

Sirius shuddered. "Please, don't even THINK about that. But I still think we shouldn't let Chaos spend TOO much time with Evans. It could be disastrous."

"Since when do we use such big words in our vocabulary?" Remus put in.

"Since Sirius decided to?" Peter suggested. They all laughed, said good night, and went to sleep.

Lily awoke at around one in the morning, and though extremely drowsy, could not return to sleep. So she fetched her broom from her trunk and, taking a blanket and pillow, flew to roll up on the roof. She would've climbed, but couldn't trust herself not to fall due to how tired she was. She drew her diary out from the pillow, and began writing.

__

I think that whatever the others are up to, it involves Chaos. She seemed nice and grateful when I dropped through that window and nearly tripped over her, but there has to be some type of plot lying underneath it all. I'll find out later, I guess. For now, I'll just let things continue and stay alert. 

Or maybe I'm just being over-suspicious. Who knows? But I'm very… tired…

Lil E.

She has just managed to scribble out her name before she fell asleep. It was lucky that she didn't move at all when she slept, or else she could've fallen off the roof. But Lily was a light, quiet, and still sleeper. So she remained safe.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The week proceeded with Chaos alternately being pushed towards Lily and pulled away by all her other friends. It was getting very annoying for everyone, Chaos and Lily for their lives being interfered with, and the other four girls for having to control their friend so much.

It was a relief when Quidditch tryouts were announced at lunch on a Friday. They would be held the next day, and Gryffindor would be looking for a seeker, a keeper, two chasers and two beaters. For some reason, Molly had been left alone on the team, therefore being the captain. Several of the players had graduated (the chasers, keeper, and one of the beaters) while the others decided to salvage their limbs over the 'joy' of playing Quidditch. They really hadn't wanted to.

So, Saturday rolled around, and Lily (who was currently allowed to be friends with Chaos) was dragged down to the pitch to try out.

"Position you want to try out for?" Molly said, a clipboard in hand.

"Beater," Lily responded promptly.

"Bea-" the older girl began writing down the position, then took a closer look at Lily. "No way. You couldn't handle one of those clubs or the bludgers."

"How do you know?" Lily retorted hotly.

"You can't. Will it be seeker, keeper or chaser?"

"BEATER!" Lily insisted.

"Right o, then! Seeker it is!" Molly cheerfully waved Lily over to a very short line in which James Potter also waited.

Lily huffed over and stood with her arms crossed, broom on the ground. "Why do you look so mad?" James asked.

"First off, I didn't even want to be here. Second off, if I had to be here I wanted to be a beater. Third off…" she looked at him and finished, "why am I even talking to you?"

James was about to respond when Molly called everyone to attention. "Let's set up a scrimmage." She proceeded to divide them into two teams. Lily was thankful that she was placed on the second shift.

She watched the players from the ground with a critical eye. James seemed to be a very good seeker, especially since he'd just made the other one crash into the ground and then caught the Snitch. Molly congratulated him, but ordered the others to play for a bit longer. Sirius seemed like a very good beater, and so did that seventh-year on the other team. Neither of the current keepers was doing very well, and none of the chasers were very good either.

They switched places, and Lily was now a Seeker. _Great. Now I can make myself look like a complete fool!_

It wasn't too awful for her, but still very embarrassing. The snitch had been just above her head when the other seeker caught it. Lily thankfully landed and watched, realizing that the possible chasers would be Rhiannon and Electra, while the best keeper had to have been Dung. None of the other second years had tried out.

"I've seen enough from beaters, chasers and keepers," Molly announced. "Now I'd like to see the seekers once more." Obediently the four trying out for the seeker position stood forward while all the rest left. "I'm going to try you all and see who is the quickest and has the best eye," she informed the four. "The first thing you need to do is try to find as many of the Gryffindor neckties as you can. They're hidden all around here. The only catch is, you need to do it within the time limit: you have thirty seconds to survey the land without moving, and then one minute to collect as many of the neck ties as you've seen. The speed is getting to the ones you see while you wait to start; if someone else beats you to it, it's theirs.

"Are you all ready?" Everyone nodded. "Then begin!"

For thirty seconds, Lily struggled to spot any of the neckties. She only found one. James, however, had seen ten earlier while he was waiting for the second scrimmage to end, and had now spotted an additional twenty.

"Five… four… three… two… one… MOUNT UP!" Molly said as the time wound down. The four jumped on their brooms and were off, snatching up all the neckties they could. When the captain once again began a countdown, they gave a last search for red and gold before landing. "How many do you all have?"

The older boys trying out both had ten, Lily had five (she'd seen a few more while heading to the one she'd first glimpsed) and James had fifty. Everyone stared at him with his or her jaws dragging on the ground. How on _Earth_ had he managed to get so many?

Molly told them all to go on their way, and decisions would be posted the next day.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Lily tried to bring Chaos onto the roof with her to talk, but Chaos was afraid of heights. Lily ended up sitting there on her own, murmuring to herself. "Why couldn't Molly just let me try out for beater? I'd think that if I couldn't handle it, I'd be able to judge for myself. I guess I can try next year, seeing as how the new beaters are most likely going to be Sirius and that seventh year… the stupid seeker tryouts were so embarrassing! I knew I couldn't be a seeker, but would she listen? _No!_ Gr…" She continued to rant in this manner until a head popped out of the window below her.

"Lily? Are you up there?" It was Chaos, craning her neck to try and see the other girl. 
    
    "Yes," Lily responded, poking her head into the other girl's line of vision. "Come on up."
    "No way," Chaos protested. "You come down here!"
    "You're the one that wants to talk to me," Lily pointed out.
    "So? I'm afraid of heights."
    Shaking her head sadly, Lily leaned forward with her wand extended. "I'll apologize now and hope you won't hold me accountable for my actions. Wingardium Leviosa!"
    Chaos, screaming in fright and indignation, scrambled back from the edge of the roof the moment she landed. "Never, ever, _ever_, do that to me again," she panted.
    "Well, you wanted to talk, so talk!" Lily invited.
    "I was going to drag you down to supper and make you eat, but I'm not so sure I want to no," Chaos muttered resentfully.
    "Good, because I'm not hungry," Lily responded smugly.
    Chaos grinned wickedly. "For that, you've earned yourself your shoes! Accio Lily's shoes!" The shoes flew out the window and bonked her on the head. "Ouch! Anyway, now you're coming with me, and you are going to eat."
    "But-"
    Holding up a finger, Chaos stemmed her protests. "No buts about it! We're going, and that's that." She paused for a moment, and then looking a bit uncomfortable, added, "I know this isn't the best way to complete a kidnapping, but… how do you get down from here?"
    Lily threw her head back and completely howled with laughter. When she'd calmed down a bit, she managed to squeeze out, "We can go…" she giggled here, "across the roof…" more giggling, "this is…" giggles, "hopeless. Just…" yep, you guessed it, more giggles! "follow me." Chaos dubiously followed Lily across the roof, thinking about how maybe it wasn't so bad once you got past the edge. Seeing as how she just didn't like the climbing up part, maybe she could make a rope ladder or something to help her… no! She was NOT going to make running across the roof a daily event.
    Kora, Bella, Electra and Rhiannon called Chaos over when the two roof runners appeared in the hall, and Lily once again sat in her seat. The Slytherins were still green and pink striped, although the purple polka dots had worn off and the green was fading away. She wished more people could know it had been her that had done it, but who would believe her? Among the students, the 'Marauders,' or James, Sirius, Peter, Remus and Dung, had always taken credit for every prank that was pulled if the real prankster wasn't them and didn't claim it. They usually avoided letting teachers find out who had done the tricky task, as it resulted in a detention and took away from their studying, planning, and exploring time.
    Nothing happened during the meal, except for the fact that the Slytherins now wore only hot pink stripes.
    ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
    James stood in front of the notice board in the common room the next day. He couldn't believe his luck! The message he was looking at read:
    _Gryffindor Quidditch Team Roster
    Captain: Molly Taylor- fifth year
    Chasers: Molly Taylor- fifth year
    Electra Tejada- second year_

Bronwyn Zsa Zsa Talia Giselle Letitia Ninnette Samala Elnore Aurelia Regina Kamilan Umeko Gabrielle Morgan (Rhiannon) Matuschanskayasky- second year
    
    "They forgot 'the third'!" Rhiannon complained when she read this.

"Forget it, Rhi," Electra said, patting her friend's arm.

__

Beaters: Arthur Weasley- seventh year

Sirius Black- second year
    
    "The lord save us all," Peter whispered fervently, crossing himself. "They've given Sirius a broomstick, and club, and a very heavy ball."

"I'm not THAT bad," Sirius insisted, hitting Peter lightly on the head with his astronomy assignment. Peter just stuck his tongue out at him.

__

Keeper: Mundungus Fletcher- second year
    
    "Who's that?" James asked. "Oh yeah, that's Dung."

"Meanie," Dung responded.

__

Seeker: James Potter- second year

Reserves

Chasers: Alexander Flemmingham- fourth year

Alexandra Flemmingham- fourth year

Alex Flemmingham- fourth year
    
    "Triplets all called Alex?" Remus asked. "Someone's parents must've been bored."

__

Beaters: Rupert Grint- sixth year

Isaac Newton- third year

Keeper: Shirley Temple- fifth year

Seeker: Jack Frost- seventh year
    
    "Why are all those names familiar?" Lily asked Chaos.

"Because they're in our house?" Chaos suggested hopefully.

"No, that's not it…"

If you're still wondering why James was considering himself lucky, it was because he had made it on the team, along with all his friends that had tried out.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The months whizzed by, and soon it was Christmas time. Peter had gone to Sirius's house with Sirius, and Dung, Remus and James had all returned to their respective homes. Bella had invited Rhiannon to stay with her, and Kora had invited Electra. Chaos had insisted that she'd much rather stay at Hogwarts than 'intrude upon your families' Christmases. I'll just expect lots of presents from you.' The truth was, she was staying for Lily.

Lily still wasn't going home. It hadn't even come close to entering her mind to. She was perfectly content at Hogwarts with Chaos.

*** *** *** ***

Bad stopping place, but I wanted to post this. Sorry for how long it took to get this out, but I had no comp. time for a while there.

R&R!

__


	9. Kitchens, Snowballs, and Presents

Disclaimer: This is the last one I'm putting on this fic. All the things that you recognize as JK's are JK's, the end. I don't get the point of these! Maybe you should have claimers only, so you can say "this fic is entirely mine" or "I was the author of this book" or something…

*** *** *** ***

Chaos figured that now was the time to act. None of her other friends were around, so Lily shouldn't suspect a thing if she decided she wanted to grab a quick snack.

"Hey, Lil-lee!" the girl shouted as she crept up beside the other's bed. "Rise and shine! You've missed breakfast already."

"Chaos, you are NOT a morning person. You're the one who's always impossible to get up," Lily said pointedly, sitting up. "_I_, on the other hand, am a very perky person in the wee hours of the sun. Has time been flipped?"

"No, I gave you a sleeping potion so I'd have an excuse to show you the kitchens."

"Fun!" Lily sprang out of bed whilst muttering a spell to open the curtains. "Let's go!"

"Er, Lily, in case you hadn't noticed, you currently remain in your nightclothes. Maybe you want to go out in, um, normal day attire?"

"Don't use such big words, silly. They're not good for you. Anyway, what's wrong with my clothes?" Lily's gesturing hand swept from her fuzzy blue slippers to her plaid pants (with Tigger on the pocket) to her overlarge tee shirt ("You otter be a reader!").

Chaos shrugged as she informed her, "Nothing. Just walk ten paces behind me. I don't want to draw more attention to myself than is necessary."

Pouting and crossing her arms, Lily followed Chaos to the door and let her take nine steps before following. The entire way to the kitchens, she maintained that distance. When at last they stopped in front of a picture of fruit, Chaos noticed the smirk Lily wore.

"What?" she asked, clearly baffled.

"HA!" Lily shouted. "You told me to walk TEN paces behind you, but I was only NINE."

"Right…" Chaos drawled clearly not impressed. She reached out and tickled a pear- a fuzzy purple one with orange splotches- an as it giggled and squirmed, the portrait opened.

"Nifty," Lily said as she walked in, fully prepared to make her own meal. But many little bodies bombarded her before she could take more than three steps.

"What can we get Miss?" seemed to be the most commonly squeaked, erm, squeak.

Lily laughingly shushed them and sat on the floor so she'd be the same height as them all. "Hello!" she said happily. "My name is Lily. What're yours?"

Each of the house-elves introduced themselves to the redhead, clearly pleased that she cared. Chaos looked on, also happy. It seemed her friend had unknowingly passed yet another test with flying colors.

"So," Lily began when the many names had been processed. "Can one of you show me where some milk and cereal might be?"

"We can do much better than that, Miss. We can make Miss Lily and Miss Lily's friend much better," the elf that seemed to be in charge of this particular encounter said. "Caddie can make eggs and toast and bacon and hot cocoa and…" she rambled on and on with very tempting foods.

"May… maybe I could have some hot cocoa with my cereal?" Seeming to have sensed that they took joy in serving people, Lily complied with them by accepting a little bit more to eat.

"All right, Miss Lily," Caddie squeaked. "And Miss's friend?"

"Chaos, are you hungry?" Lily called. Chaos shook her head. "Chaos'll have a hot cocoa if you could make one, Caddie."

"Right, Miss Lily. Caddie will make Miss Lily and Miss Chaos their meals now. You may sit over there, Misses."

The two girls grinned at each other as they seated themselves, Chaos making a mental note to inform the others of Lily's success, Lily looking around in wonder.

"How long have you known about this place? Who told you about it?" The redhead seemed fairly impressed.

Laughingly, Chaos informed her, "Well, James, Sirius, Dung and Electra had detention last week and missed supper, so we all came down here."

"Gotcha," Lily nodded, showing her understanding.

At that point, Caddie arrived with their food. "Here you are, Misses."

"Thank you, Caddie. This was made wonderfully fast." The house-elf blushed at Lily's compliment and bustled off.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

That night it snowed. Like, blizzard, school-is-canceled-for-the-next-four-days snowing. So the next morning, Lily and Chaos rushed outside along with all of the other remaining students. The two girls started making a wall of snow… and then another… and then another… and then the older Gryffindors (all the first years had been rather homesick that year) came over to help, using magic and their normal, snow-castle-building abilities. When they were finished, they had your average, over-gaudy palace, complete with marching snowmen (and dogs) circling it.

The dozen or so Gryffindors stood at the windows of their warm rooms, laughing at the rather pathetic attempts the other houses had made at forming their own forts. 

The Slytherins all were working separately, forming dozens of little walls. The Ravenclaws had combined efforts and made an igloo with a hole in the top, smoke pouring from it. the Hufflepuff fort first was what Lily and Chaos had tried to make earlier- three walls with a slight overhang- only a bit larger.

Chaos nudged the person they'd elected captain (a girl nicknamed Milka for the time being), and, looking startled, the older person began to speak. "Man your stations!" Everyone scattered to different sections, except for Lily, Chaos, and Milka. "Now, girls, is when you learn some of the very useful spells for snow wars. Lily, the flag, if you please." Lily obediently raised up the Gryffindor flag, and then shouted a spell that threw the word "WAR" up into the air above their castle. Voice magically made louder, Milka announced, "Make sure all heating spells are in place! Now… fire at Ravenclaw!" Immediately, snowballs were whizzing at the Ravenclaws, melting spots of their igloo on contact.

By the demise of the Ravenclaw dome, Chaos and Lily had absorbed the banishing and heating charms. The Ravenclaws were marched into the Gryffindor palace, had their wands confiscated, and were put to work in the dungeons forming more snowballs. The next target was Hufflepuff.

During this particular crusade, Lily and Chaos polished up their aim and threw in a hooked ending to the banishing charm to help destroy the fort from the inside.

"Why have we been learning silly things over the past year and a half, when there were much more important things? I'd take heating over levitation any day," Lily proclaimed as the Hufflepuffs unwillingly joined the Ravenclaws.

"Are you mad? We need the levitation charm to move all the snowballs! Accio is all well and good, but for a large pile, it's much easier to fly them on your own. Of COURSE it's useful."

"But what about the other spells?" Lily said, attempting to make a point against the older girl.

"Name one," Milka responded, smiling smugly. "I'll find a use or two for it."

This simple statement was what provoked Lily to suggest the water charm (useful for forming a shower, or providing a drink of water for those poor referees that get stuck out in the desert) and cause the Slytherins' defeat. Instead of stumping Milka, however, her eyes lit up and she hugged Lily.

"You're a genius!" she crowed. "Everyone, we're going to water out those slimy snakes!"

of course, if you are outside shortly after a blizzard playing in the snow, you'd be rather chilly. Throw in a few gallons of freezing water dumped on each person and… you're running inside and practically throwing yourself in the fire. The three Gryffindors in the "control tower" laughed and high-fived each other as their prisoners were brought before them. lily suddenly had a magnificent idea, and nudged Milka to whisper in her ear. The older girl grinned and nodded.

"Will all prefects or higher ranking please step forward?" The head boy and a handful of prefects moved to the front of the crowd. "Right. Your mission is to get all the teachers into the Entrance Hall at precisely… twelve thirty. Everyone else, we have plans to discuss…"

At twelve twenty-nine, Lily was staring at her watch, counting down to the time when the teachers should arrive. She glanced up to make sure everyone was in position, then held up all her fingers. When they'd all been folded in one by one, the teachers all burst in from different directions, babbling about fires, meetings, attacks, and ever about a purple bubble spillage from the fireplace in the Great Hall. Then came the snowballs, pelting the teachers from absolutely everywhere, even the rafters. 

Lily, with Milka looking on, cast a charm to spell the words "This snow war has been brought to you by Chaos, Lily and Milka of Gryffindor!" in snowballs, before allowing them to drop down onto the teachers and a few Slytherins that had surfaced from the dungeons.

Dumbledore simply laughed and walked away, muttering about asking for more warm dishes with lunch and dinner. Several teachers, including McGonagall, began searching for the offending trio. Lily cast yet another spell, this one of freezing water. It read:

Teeheehee, Minnie McGee.

You'll never be able to catch me!

Sincerely,

Lily, Milka and Chaos

P.S. Enjoy the shower! Sorry that we ran out of hot water.

Then, of course, the water splashed down on the very indignant teachers, who shrieked helplessly for the three to show themselves. Chaos mouthed "NO!" at them before dragging the other two off, all three holding in their laughter. 

As soon as they had entered the common room, Milka excused herself as Lily and Chaos collapsed in giggles. 

"Minnie McGee's face was priceless!" Lily gasped, clutching a stitch in her side.

Chaos nodded her agreement, and then collecting herself a bit, challenged Lily to a chess match. She began composing a letter as she played, one that could very well change Lily's fate forever.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Lily and Chaos both received double detentions, the first because of beginning the snow war, the second because they wouldn't tell the teachers who Milka was. Dumbledore, however, awarded both of them ten points for "a wonderful time of fun, uniting the entire school in a single activity." He also gave ten points for Milka, "so you can tell her from me."

But that's not what Lily was thinking about at the moment. At the time we're all at, she was bouncing up and down on Chaos's bed chanting "Christmas! Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!" at the top of her lungs. Seeing as how this wasn't affecting her friend in the least, Lily stopped and leaned down to screech in Chaos's ear, "Kay Oss! If you don't get your butt up and start opening your presents NOW, I swear to God I will put them on top of the astronomy tower roof for you to get!"

"I'M UP!" Chaos screamed, lunging at her presents.

Lily opened the gift from Chaos first, then one that she'd received from Hagrid. What followed next was a bundle from her family. _Sent it through Dumbledore, most likely,_ Lily thought. _No matter! I just won't open the letters._ So thinking, she put them away in a drawer before opening the presents. After those, there were nine envelopes and one large parcel. The nine envelopes held an apology note and a season's greetings from each of the other second year Gryffindors, and the package was quite a few pranking goods (from them as a group). Lily glowed with happiness. By some miracle, they'd finally accepted her, and she was all too ready to be one of them. She didn't stop to question their motives- she just jumped at the chance.

"CHAOS! They've all apologized, Chaos!" 

Lily was too happy to even take note of the none-too-surprised "how wonderful" from her friend.

The remainder of the holidays was spent having lots and lots of fun, as they're HOLIDAYS. At night, Lily would sit up in bed pondering how to reveal her true self to the others without appearing over-eager or too forward.

__

Maybe… she thought sleepily the night before they were due back, _I'll just do it gradually… a bit of joking and pranking here and there… and eventually… I'll be… me…_

*** *** *** ***

I know, kinda bad ending. Sorry for taking so long, but May was my busy month, and after I posted another chapter for Usagi's Destinies, I got busy again. -.- Well, here's some responses, and then I'll post away!

****

Clavel- I'd rather write only a bit than a lot that isn't what I want it to be, too, so yeah, a bit is better than nothing.

****

Lady Knight of Kennan- that's okay! Molly didn't let Lily try out because she didn't think she could handle the mallet-thingy or whatever… it's hard to explain, but it's like when you're told you can't play football because you're too short/little. Glad you found stuffs funny!!!!! Welpers, I need to move on to answer more so I can post…

****

Tarawen- thanks. I'd lent my copy of the book to a friend who hadn't as of yet discovered the joys of Harry Potter. Glad you like things, and yeah, they're kinda loco friends. 

****

Sierra*Sitruc- no, Chaos wouldn't have stopped being her friend… that's just what the others seem to think. Sorry this took a while, but busy-ness is as busy-ness does. That made NO sense…

****

Midnightlily- I believe you might've already read the note I had posted explaining things about chaser/seeker, and that'll be explained more thoroughly in future chapters.

****

Thistlemeg- I liked her roof thing, too. That's why I put it in. I figured I'd try to spend lots of time on the roof if I went to Hogwarts. I'd try to spend lots of time exploring, too, but the roof is cool. Sorry 'bout your heights fear… I'm claustrophobic, if it helps any. And I do NOT like wolves. And, to put your mind further at ease, no, she isn't Molly Weasley YET, so you can still like her :-D. I figured she was a really really really bad Quidditch captain, but if all the others quit, who are you stuck with? The one remaining. 

****

Sailor Capricorn- I noticed that, but I couldn't fix it! It happens a lot for me, for some reason, and it drives me bonkers! I almost had it fixed once, but after I'd saved and exited out, it switched back. I think we should all crusade against the evilness of side-scrolling! Kora isn't cool. I don't like her.

****

Sailorartemis2000- here's moremoremoremoremoremoremore!! Lol.

****

Princess Gin-Gin- if everyone was as nice as Chaos, my plot so far would be down the toilet. Thanksssss! (sorry, 'bin' watching the HP movie lots.)

****

Emma- SHUT UPPP! You are such a bully! ::cries:: anywho, I know very well that James is a Chaser in the books and a Seeker in the movie, so I am working hard to accommodate BOTH. In case you haven't noticed, James doesn't have glasses yet. ::walks off whistling:: Oh yeah, you haven't reviewed UD yet.

****

TGWIOWHP- What do they count as fluff? And do you know when you are off the ban? Usagi's Destinies only really has fluff like mid-1st through very first 3rd year chapter, and you're past that. I killed him off for a reason :-D Oh, and tell your mom this from me: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LETTING HER READ MY FIC! I love getting her reviews, and she's very nice about _everything_. And then, you give her a hug from me. Kay? I didn't really run out of name ideas… I just didn't want to think of some that I might want to use in the future and not be able to. 

****

Sierra*Sitruc (take two)- Yep, I got MANY annoying reviews telling me precisely why James couldn't be a Seeker. Yes, I know it happens to many people, so I TOOK ACTION! Mwahahaha… um, yeah.

****

Erin- yeah, I feel bad for her too… that's why I'm going to make it all better! Thanks, and here is the next chapter… dum DUM DUM DUUUM!

****

G.D. Jade- sorry that this wasn't soon…

****

Lily evans potter- I could! Maybe I will! Just not in this fic. Nopenopenope! In the movie it said he was a Seeker, and in an interview JK said he was a Chaser (supposedly, so I've been told). Nit-pickyness provokes thought, which in turn provokes more detailed writing.

****

Sailor Capricorn (take two)- it's already in HTML format. That does sound annoying… and if we all followed the 'no real rules' policy, we could have much more diverse fanfics. Heheee I like the quote anyway! 

****

Brielle- I will try! And thanks!

****

DragonRoyalty- I guess for starters all I really need to know is if all shows are like Riverdance, or do you do recitals, or competitions, or what? Things like that. And then maybe a bit of a description about some of the basic steps that everyone starts out with… like in tap, it's the 'tic-toc routine.' Um, if you want to e-mail me (dancinem13@att.net) that'd be excellent.

****

Jellybean Oasis- I'm writing! I'm writing! I'm flattered, too.

****

HPMystery- I'll try to dredge up some time to do that!

Sailor Capricorn (take three)- Um, I really don't know which you should take off! I say whichever one you like more, keep on, I guess. You write Sailor Moon fics, but no Harry Potter, so maybe you should keep Usagi's Destinies up and I can mention that this is the prequel (it is). That could work… and I'm very flattered that I've stayed in your faves for two stories! ****

Gwen- here's more! Is it really? Wow...

****

Jenna- here's more, since you were soooo polite! :-D

****

Twistie- my friend has an imaginary friend named 'Lampy Lamp' and it's a lamp… um, right. And thank you! Here's more, since I'm still writing.

****

Refrain- so I'm doing it for my sake, too? Cooool….

****

Saphire- thanks and thanks!

****

Anneliese- actually, I've come up with two ideas that might work. One is a weird version of Cinderella, with the medieval mindset and modern technology and whatnot. I had a dream, and that's what it was about. The other is different… maybe I could work this story into the idea I have for that, and it'd work out! That's what my original plans were for this fic, only I changed my mind. You really would buy my stuff? That's sooo nice! One of my friends and I are trying to get together this collection of poems and get that published, with 'Garden Girl' in it as well (we wrote it together.) well, I'm moving on so I can post this!

****

Nasha L. T. M. Potter- that WOULD be funny, wouldn't it? What year did I put him in? I'll check later…

****

Keller- sorry, I know it's been a while… here's the update! 


	10. A Few Visits

A/N: Mkay, I won't bother you with any explanations as to why this took so long to come out. You may want to skim the last couple chapters, refresh your mind, though. And I won't be giving any personal replies this time, as none of you will have remembered what you wrote. I'd just like to thank everyone for their support and patience (or nagging, depending on which you are more inclined to do ::cough TGWIOWHP cough::)

***

Lily awoke during the false dawn, though she didn't realize this fact. She'd had a dream in the short time she'd been asleep, a dream about how her house had been attacked and her family killed.

The first second of being fully conscious showed Lily to have thrown on a bathrobe and slippers to ward off the chill. The second instant showed the redhead fetching some parchment and a quill and running out the door to the owlry.

__

Dear Mum, Dad, and Petunia,

I'm so sorry that I stopped talking to you all. I love the three of you very much, and I want to come home during the summer vacation. I want to see you again.

I hope that you aren't too angry with me now. I love you.

Lily

  
She was too tired to write any more, and decided that it was best to have a short, to-the-point letter. Fastening the letter to her owl's leg, she noted how the faint sunlight had disappeared, replaced by the moon and stars once more. _At least they should get the letter before dawn_, she thought sleepily as she recognized her stupidity. _And I need a watch._

Desperately tired, but not exhausted enough to go back to sleep, Lily pattered back into the dormitory to clothe herself and then go down into the common room.

She seated her small frame on the couch closest to the dying fire, and flipped idly through a magazine that was on the coffee table until she drifted off to sleep.

***

Several hours later, at about eight in the morning, Lily's mother and father were sitting down for breakfast when an owl swooped in and dropped a note on the table. It was the short letter that their youngest daughter had written, and they tremblingly read and re-read it, hoping against all hope that it was true.

As joy overtook them and the clouds gathered overhead outside, ominously black and threatening, five masked and cloaked shapes appeared around the table.

The last words that either remembered hearing were, "crucio," before a killing pain beyond belief overtook them, and then "avada kedavra." 

The storm had unleashed itself just as the screams began, thunder masking the tortured sounds of their screams. The rain continued pouring on the ruin of the house long after the black figures had departed.

So it was that Petunia Evans returned from a date with Vernon Dursley to find her house a ruin, slicked over with mud. 

"Mum? Dad? Mum! Dad!" she exclaimed, frantically searching the complete mess that had once been a beautiful home. She found them, or their corpses, splayed out in the kitchen. 

Amidst the muck, she hunted up a letter. As she read it, flashing lights and sirens approached her house, and men jumped out of the cars and pulled her away onto the street, in front of the house across the way. Petunia was angrily clutching the letter while tears silently coursed down her face, shivering in the cold rain.

If it hadn't been for the clouds masking what clues may have been discovered in the sky, someone may have noticed the green skull with the snake protruding out of its mouth. 

Instead, Petunia was shortly hustled inside a neighbor's house, where a warm blanket was draped over her shoulders and a cup of tea provided while the police questioned her carefully. After, she was shown to a guest room so she could mourn in peace the death of her parents, and stock up even more anger against her younger sister, and more resent of the magical world.

***

In a room located in central London, at approximately nine twenty seven in the morning, a man glanced up from a map that had numerous glowing green dots flashing. "The Zimmers, the Calworths, and the Evanses, sir. All were killed and the Zimmers and the Calworths, but the daughter survived for the Evanses."

A rather old, worn man nodded. "I'll notify the headmaster immediately, so he may deal accordingly."

The younger man nodded and went back to staring at the dots, which could just be made out as green skulls. "The Dark Mark," he muttered, shaking his head sadly. "We'll _all_ hate it very soon."

***

At ten thirty (about two hours before the other students were due back) Lily was interrupted from her game of Wizard's chess by Professor McGonagall. "Miss Evans, you are wanted by the headmaster immediately. I will take you to him."

Lily shot a confused glance towards Chaos, who shrugged and motioned for her to leave. 

Lily followed Professor McGonagall slowly, wondering what on Earth she could've done to get in trouble. Each step seemed to drag an uncertain doom nearer and nearer, until Lily just wanted to scream and run as fast as possible in the opposite direction.

In fact, when Professor McGonagall had turned to tell Lily what the password was to the gargoyle she'd halted in front of, she discovered the girl facing away with one foot poised as if to take off.

"Miss Evans, _what are you doing_?" the professor demanded in an exasperated way.

"Um, nothing," she said with a small voice, facing around and putting her foot down.

"Right," the professor said, giving her a slightly suspicious look. "The password is 'fizzing whizbees.' He's expecting you, so you may go right up." With that, the professor strode off, leaving Lily to use her self-discipline to go see the headmaster.

"Fizzing whizbees," she said timidly to the imposing statue, which promptly sprung to the side, revealing a large staircase that spiraled upward.

By the time she'd reached the top, she was sufficiently dizzy. As she paused to recollect herself before knocking on the wooden door, the object swung open to reveal a tearful girl a few years older than she was. The girl barely took notice of Lily as she raced down the spiraling staircase, leaving the door open for Lily to enter.

Taking a deep breath, Lily crossed the threshold, hoping for the best.

***

Please leave a review if you've taken the trouble to read this! Also, don't shoot me for taking so long! It was about three pages long, which is decent for one night. And I have two more days of vacation that I'll be home for, so if I get lots of feedback… ::wink wink nudge nudge::


	11. Some Years Go By

Here's another chapter for everyone! It touches lightly on a couple matters people might have issues with (incest and homosexuality) so you are forewarned. This one was longer than the last, and it takes you from the middle of second year to somewhere in the fifth year (yay me!) since I am too lazy for some research I'd need to do to be more detailed… no more talking from me! Again, thanks to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate your support, and I'm sorry that I'm not personally replying to all your reviews. 

To answer one question ("where have you been?"), let's just say school and many extracurricular activities, as well as a very bumpy start for tests (I got an 80 on my first in bio and my first in history, which is very unusual for me) so I studied more. Also, an over-obsession with something during the summer, I won't say what though.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

She did end up screaming and running as far and fast as she could. Curled up in a remote corner of the castle, Lily sobbed and shivered as she replayed the horrific scene through her head.

__

"Miss Evans, I have some evil tidings to bear to you," Dumbledore said somberly. "I'm afraid your parents have been killed by the Dark Lord, Voldemort." 

She went numb from shock, and only managed to utter, "What?"

"You have two options open to you, though I do not know which one will seem more favorable in your eyes. Your first choice is to go to your sister during the holidays, in her new flat. Though in all fairness, I should forewarn you- she may not be in the best of spirits with you or our kind.

"Your second option is to go to your aunt and uncle in the magical community in Laos, where they are missionaries of a kind. Unfortunately, it would be too complicated and costly in that situation to have you return to Hogwarts while they remain there. You would be joining the small school that the local children attend, which is a branch-off of Hogwarts itself. You would learn just as much, just as well, if not better, than you would if you remained here. You would also have the added advantage of helping the neighboring muggle village." __

Lily was still unable to function properly, but that was due to the sharp, stabbing pain she now felt. As the tears finally began to well up in her eyes, Dumbledore dismissed her and told her to think about her choice.

The second the spiraling stairs deposited Lily back into the hallway, she let out a gigantic screech of frustration and dashed off.

"It's my fault. That's what Petunia thinks," she choked out to herself. "I should just go to Laos." She drifted to sleep amidst her pool of misery and awoke several hours later, just as the sun had begun to set. One last horrific thought struck her, sending her into a fresh bout of tears and sleep.

She'd never said good-bye.

****

Chaos had been growing increasingly worried as the length of time Lily had been gone expanded. She went to lunch, helped the other girls back into the dorm room, and still no sign of Lily. After supper had come and gone, nearly half a day had elapsed. Chaos dragged Electra and Rhiannon to the kitchens to ask after Lily.

"Misses Chaos, Electra and Rhiannon! How mays we be serving you?" was the general chorus they were greeted with.

"Actually," Chaos said, "we were wondering if you'd known where Lily is, or was, today."

  
"Chaos said that McGonagall pulled her out of the common room a few hours before we arrived back for lunch," Rhiannon added, giving the house-elves a more specific time frame to work with.

"We is not seeing Miss Lily, misses. But we will be telling yous if we is seeing her," one elf piped up.

"Thanks," said Electra with a small smile as the girls turned to return to the dorm room.

****

Lily awoke once more, feeling very drained and unhappy. She stumbled to the nearest girls' bathroom to splash some cold water on her face, and as she noted the time on her watch (3 AM) she went and opened the window. Letting the cool air play across her tear-encrusted face, she began to drowse. Her attention was caught by the sudden appearance of a violently green owl bearing a piece of lined paper.

"I didn't know they came in that color," she croaked softly to herself as the odd bird dropped the paper on her hand and flapped away.

She picked up the letter and read it through once then began shaking and dropped it out the window. This had hardened Lily's resolve for the decision she'd made.

As it floated down, a breeze picked it up and carried it off to the lake. The water slowly overtook it, forever hiding the message of "Don't come back" in Petunia's hand.

Determined knocking on the door to his office at precisely four twenty seven in the morning awoke Dumbledore. When he had opened the door, a very disheveled but composed Lily strode inside.

"I've made my decision. I want to go to Laos, and I want to go as soon as I possibly can."

Later that very day she was on the train to home. She'd packed swiftly and silently, finishing long before any of the other girls had left. After the lonely train ride, her aunt and uncle (who had used a bit of their small stock of Floo powder to arrive quickly) greeted her.

After the tearful day of the funeral (during which Lily and Petunia avoided each other), Lily began the long journey with her mother's oldest brother and younger sister, and their child. Vicky was the same age as Lily, but understood more than Lily about the hardships people faced all the time in the world.

The three were missionaries of magic- all three were wizards, and Lily's aunt Verona and uncle Charles had provided the funds to establish the magic school their niece would now be attending.

Vicky was ecstatic that her cousin would be coming to live with her. "We're going to have so much fun! We'll be able to help each other with our assignments and stuff in school, and do all the same jobs in the village!"

Lily smiled vaguely, as she was more in tune to her aunt and uncle's conversation. 

"Remember, Charlie, she doesn't know that we're brother and sister, and I'd like to keep it that way. I don't want to have to explain incest at the moment, and she doesn't need to know that _that_ is half the reason we went to Laos in the first place," aunt Verona was saying.

"She'll find out on her own sooner or later."

"Let's try and make it later," was the over-anxious reply.

Lily settled back in her seat and pretended to fall asleep so that she could think. Her aunt and uncle were siblings as well as spouse, which made their daughter a Picchione on both sides. She'd only have one set of grandparents, if they were alive. With most people as intolerant as they are, and her aunt and uncle being in such a prominent family in the limelight so often, they _would_ be driven out of the country eventually.

For the time being, she would respect her aunt's wishes and wait until they approached her on the matter.

A month later, Lily was well adjusted to life in Laos. The village she lived in had very few families, as they were the only magical people that lived nearby. Since they had such little money, they hadn't been able to afford schooling in the ways of magic. The school provided a place for the children and adults to learn what they would at any prestigious place, only in a less refined location.

Lily, Vicky, and a few of the older children would often go to the muggle village and help in schooling the young children there after their lessons, and then would play games like Jump-in-the-box (which Vicky had introduced long ago) or mancala. 

Lily had put away her fancy shoes and clothes, and instead wore her simpler outfits and ran around barefoot like all the other children. She kept up with her lessons, continuously excelling as she usually did.

Two years later, her old clothes didn't fit anyway. She'd also taken to poking about in her aunt and uncle's library, and had discovered a book on animagi, which she promptly hid and studied at night by the light of her wand. Magical law enforcement was sufficiently less strict than England had been, which allowed her to perform harmless spells.

That year, Vicky had also discovered something about herself, which she kept secret for a few months before revealing to her best friend and cousin.

"Lily," Vicky tentatively whispered in the dark of the night, after the red-head's wand had been put out.

"Yeah?"

"I want to tell you something," the brunette replied as she slid onto Lily's bed.

"Go ahead."

"I'm like boys."

"That's nothing new," Lily responded dryly. Her cousin never had acted all girly-girl, always being one of the guys. When the younger girls went to play jump-in-the-box, Vicky would go and play tag with the boys.

"No. I'm like boys in the way that I… I… fancy girls."

Lily wasn't certain what to say. "Oh."

"Are you okay with that?"

"Vicky, if that's how you feel, I'm absolutely fine with it," Lily replied, giving her a big hug.

"Thanks Lily," Vicky whispered as she climbed back into her bed.

****

"Vicky!" Lily yelled. It was a year later, and she'd finally worked up the courage to try the animagi thing. "Come here!"

"What do you want, Lily?" Vicky shouted as she skidded into the room out of breath.

"I want you to drink this with me," she said, handing her a glass.

"Okay…"

The two downed the drink, and Lily immediately began to change.

Nothing happened to Vicky, who remained standing, staring in shock at her cousin, who was now a spider monkey.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Review, please!


	12. Summertime Troubles Again

****

The Princess and the Pauper

__

(insert standard summary here)

A/N: To be frank, I was hoping to break 200 reviews with the last chapter. That's okay! We were only off by one, and it'll pull through this time around! (unless everyone mutinies and doesn't review). Here's to everyone who did review! 

****

Musicaldreams09- Thanks! I'm glad you like that I sent her off to a more remote location, though I must admit that I had my own motives behind that. Unfortunately, not much detail is described of Laos, as I'm a lazy butt that doesn't feel like researching for fun right now :O)

****

Clavel- I realize that I probably should have gone into what she felt like right away, but I think that will maybe come in later (no promises). I think the other two questions will be answered in this chapter, however. And this is definitely soon, especially compared to the last break of… six months?

****

Lady Knight of Kennan- yea, I did rush it quite a bit, but as I told musicaldreams, that is mostly due to the fact that I'm too lazy for the time being to research Laos and detail something that may have happened to her in the general public. I created an impoverished settlement type of deal for the purpose of the story. I hurried, but not too quickly, and thank you!

****

Gwen- thanks! I'm guessing when you say "unexpected" you are implying "twenty times faster than last time," unless I'm greatly mistaken.

****

Lil-Brat888- I'm glad you felt that Lily was a realistic character, and thank you very much for your review.

****

August 'roxy' Taylor- In a way, it is riches to rags, if not more of a feeling like that. (Almost 'Mame,' isn't it?) Lily is one of those people that needs to fit in, and if it helps that the way to fit in where she is now is to live as a pauper (to her), then so be it! It was more for the goodwill, blahblahblah… thanks for reviewing! Oh, is your name from 'Chicago'? The Roxy part, that is.

****

Chelsea Weasley- TIGGY! How could I be angry with you? You are pretty much my biggest 'fan'! :O) Yea, eleven was a little sad, but… oh, it was the day when everyone else was returning from winter vacation that she left Hogwarts, in her second year. This chapter goes into her sixth year. Oh, and you're allowed to bother me as much as you like! I was just teasing you, really :O) You and the other ol' faithfuls keep this machine running, however slowly that may be!

***

Lily turned back into herself, shocked at what had happened but pleased all the same.

"What was I?" she queried excitedly.

Vicky blinked and responded automatically, "A spider monkey. Why didn't I turn into anything?"

"Because you haven't said 'diddy daemose schlienkin' yet."

"Diddy daemose schlienkin?" Vicky repeated skeptically, promptly turning into a fluffy white bunny rabbit as she attempted to comment further on her cousin's sanity. She resumed her natural form, and could only muster up a "wow" along with a "why do I suddenly want carrots?"

Giggling, Lily remarked, "I've never seen so white a rabbit in my life."

Both girls broke down laughing for no apparent reason.

A while later, they were getting a kick out of popping in and out of their new forms. Lily had whipped up a record for them both, slipping it into an old, dusty file that would never be touched again. Seeing as how Vicky's parents were in charge of the local magical community, this was a sufficient amount to make them perfectly legal animagi.

They also had taken some of the pocket money that had been saved up, and caroused off to satisfy the craving for bananas Lily had acquired, and Vicky's need of carrots.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
    
    
    A few months later, Charles found out about Lily and Vicky's secret. The couple was furious at the girls, but there wasn't much to be done about it.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Lily had been doing some figuring. It was late June by the time she'd solidified what she had planned. 
    
    
    "The money I have in my bank account will cover clothes and school supplies, and a room somewhere for the next two summers. I could get a job to cover food, and maybe even have some money left over for a few frivolous things now and again," Lily concluded her speech.

She'd written Dumbledore, and he had said she would be very welcome back at Hogwarts if her guardians conceded. She also had sent in several job applications, both for in the muggle and wizarding world.

"Well, we won't let you go," Verona announced. She and her husband had discussed this, as they knew the day when Lily would want to leave was drawing near.

"I'm a big girl! I can take care of myself. Really, all I'd need would be a broom, and maybe an owl," Lily protested. Her old owl had keeled over in mid-May the previous year, and her broom had been donated to a large wizarding family a few weeks after her arrival.

Holding up a hand to stem any further protests from the girl, her uncle Charles completed, "You're not leaving without this." He dug into a cabinet and drew out a bag full of money. "We're not paupers, though we may live like them," Charles grinned. "This should be enough for a decent broom, owl, floo powder, maybe a few other things. Just be certain to write to us lots!"

"And don't go overboard with the luxury items," Verona warned as Lily's eyes filled with tears. 

Embracing her relatives, Lily suddenly wondered out loud, "What will I tell Vicky?" The thought had come upon her like the single inky cloud in the bright sky to blot out the dazzling sun.

"Oh, I think she has something to tell you as well," Verona replied mysteriously.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"You're going to Beauxbatons?" Lily exclaimed happily, startling a few birds from a nearby tree due to sheer volume. "That's wonderful!" A dog barked from the high pitch her voice now held as she squealed.

The two girls were celebrating their imminent returns to fancy dresses and real shoes. "What else did Dumbledore tell you?" Vicky queried, knowing that Lily continued to retain information.

"Well, he said he wanted me to be a prefect!" Lily was elated. "See, one of the girls originally in my year went into hiding, and another one transferred to Durmstrang last year, and is completing school there. Only one of the girls that came during second year is still in Gryffindor." The others had been re-sorted since they had been officially accepted into Hogwarts, mostly due to their request.

"So why isn't the other girl a prefect?"

"She was last year… but I get better grades than she does, and he seems to think that I'm a tad bit more responsible than she," Lily grinned. _I wonder who the last one in Gryffindor is…_
    
    
    ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
    Lily stepped into the Leaky Cauldron wielding her half-empty trunk. Going up to the man behind the bar, she asked if any rooms were available for a short amount of time.
    "I'm lucky it's summer time," Lily muttered after dumping her meager belongings in room twenty-nine. Still barefoot, Lily was in desperate need of shoes and clothes, quickly, even before seeking out a more permanent residence.
    Thanking her lucky stars that it was a cloudless day, Lily headed out into muggle London loaded down with muggle money and returning with a new purse, much lighter. Her arms were laden with packages, however- summer clothes, fall clothes, winter clothes, and summer clothes aplenty, alongside a much-needed wallet and small bag. She'd stopped only once to get some fish and chips right before she re-entered the wizarding world, and it was a wonder that she managed all her bundles _and_ eating without dropping everything.
    "Time for school shopping!" Lily declared, snatching up her requested list and purchasing all the books and supplies she needed, leaving the robes and other such items for the next day's shopping.
    Two days later, Lily had moved out of the Leaky Cauldron and into a two room apartment (discounting the bathroom). There was a kitchen that doubled as a dining room and tripled as a living room, and a small bedroom with a tiny bathroom adjoined.
    Lily had been lucky to find such a sufficient and inexpensive apartment in Diagon Alley, especially since most of the furniture she'd be needing was already there.
    A special allowance had been made for Lily to be able to perform simple spells (such as a washing charm) to help provide for herself.
    A month (and then some) had passed. Lily leaned out of one of the windows facing onto Diagon Alley. It was now mid-August, and she'd begun to see people that were vaguely familiar from years ago.
    An owl from Hogwarts surprised her by flying in the open window and dropping a note off on the bed. Picking it up, Lily read:
    _
    Miss Evans-
    I apologize for neglecting to inform you of a few last things. You will be needing at least one set of dress robes for a series of balls the prefects, heads and a few teachers will be attending in the wintertime this year. Muggles dress clothes are also an option.
    There will be a total of eleven balls over the course of two weeks, in a very prominent wizarding home, in case you would like to retrieve more formal attire than usual for the occasion.
    Sincerely,
    Albus Dumbledore_

Lily smiled. It was time for more shopping! Being used to having only a small, open market for exchange, having the ability to prance from store to store with coins jingling in her pocket was still a novelty.

After retrieving several fancy outfits from the muggle world, Lily returned to her apartment briefly to deposit her newest purchases on her bed. When she was in Madam Malkin's robe shop, she quite literally ran into another girl while carrying some robes to a fitting room.

Glancing briefly at the other girl, Lily did a double take. "Hi, Rhiannon," she said softly, smiling as she remembered their first introduction. That was the only time that they'd really got along.

Lily remembered the people that had once made her life a living hell, but her parents had always told her to "forgive and forget."

She was willing to bet that the others had already accomplished the "forget" part, and she was prepared to fulfill at least the "forgive."

The redhead was satisfied with her assumptions of being forgotten when she received a bland, "Hi," with no flicker of recognition in the other girl's eyes.

Both continued on their paths with no further exchange.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Back in her room, Lily discovered a letter from her cousin, with a small package beside it.

__

Lily- Go find a television and a VCR to watch this. it has got to be the funniest movie in the world, and trust me, I've been watching loads of them since I got here. –Vicky

Having some empty time on her hands, Lily decided to meet her neighbors and see if anyone happened to have a television set.

The third door she tried opened up to an eccentric-looking old woman, whose semi-frail frame couldn't completely hide the fact that her apartment was bedecked in modern items.

Lily extended her hand, smiling. "Lily Evans, I'm one of your neighbors for a little while."

"I'm Sydney Legg," the old woman replied, firmly grasping Lily's hand.

Deciding to throw formalities to the wind, Lily cut right to the chase. "I was wondering if, by any chance, you had a television, and would like to watch this movie with me." Drawing out a bunch of brownies, she threw in, "I even brought some snacks!"

A few minutes later, Lily and Sydney were situated on a bright pink couch in front of a new television set, giggling at the random events on the screen in front of them. 

"How do you know she's a witch?" a man calmly queried a crowd of people that had shoved a beautiful girl with a pointed hood and a carrot secured around her head by a length of rope.

"'Cause she looks like one!" a boy in the crowd squawked.

"It's not _my_ nose," the girl insisted as the man peeled the carrot up to peer beneath. "They put it on me."

"Did you?" he directed at the crowd.

"No… no…" they said, shaking their heads. "Well, yes, yes… and the hat."

Beyond the giggling point at the sheer stupidity, Lily attempted to repress her laughter, and failed miserably.

The movie- "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"- was absolutely hilarious. Lily and Sydney became good friends over the laughter and brownies, very good friends indeed.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Lily double-checked her room to make sure everything was packed up, aside from what she'd need before the next day. It was the last day and August, and she and Sydney were going to have a good-bye ice cream until the next summer vacation.

Grabbing her purse, Lily pranced down the stairs, and briefly knocked on Sydney's door before poking her head in. "Sydney? Are you ready?" Lily called.

There was no sign of the lady in the kitchen-that-was-a-dining-room-that-was-a-living-room area. She treaded across to the bedroom door, which was slightly ajar. "Syd?" 

Still no response.

When she peeked into the bedroom, she nearly fainted.

What had been a perfectly healthy, albeit a crazy, old lady, now was a perfectly dead old lady, dressed up in her Sunday best, spread across the bed. 

Lily immediately picked up her wand and muttered the spell to summon medical help, before she knelt softly beside the bed and grabbed the lady's hands.

"Sydney… oh, my Lord, Sydney…" she muttered before letting a muffled sob escape her lips. 

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" she heard a voice call from the kitchen area.

"She's in the bedroom," Lily called softly. "I think she's… she's…"

She was unable to say the dreaded word, but she needn't have bothered. The emergency call man understood. 

He came in, and was able to assess the situation quickly. Escorting Lily back out to the bright pink couch that she and Sydney had had such good times on, he explained to her that even the most healthy senior citizens are apt to have heart attacks, and that this happened to be a particularly violent one that killed her.

Miserable, Lily allowed him to remove Sydney's corpse, and then crept back to her room and wrote the Hogwarts Headmaster a note, explaining that her arrival at school would be delayed by a few days.

The next morning, she searched Sydney's apartment and found a book of names and people that she'd known recently, and owled them all, informing them of the passing away, and when a funeral and wake would be held.

When the funeral and wake were over, and all the legalities had been gone through, Lily had a bright pink couch, a television, and a VCR to remind her of all the good times they'd had in the past. It was an odd match, but one that had been destined to last as long as either one lived.

When Dumbledore had assured her the couch would have plenty of room in the dormitory, Lily sent the three inherited items ahead with the majority of her belongings to the school. Making a last stop at the graveyard to place a fresh bouquet of flowers over Sydney's grave, Lily went to the portkey point to go back to school, only five days late and with a very heavy heart.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N take two: Well, about my above comment of wanting to break 200 reviews… thanks to **ronnieweasley **(if I'm ever inspired, "My Child" will have more, and you naughty girl! Ruining all my fun on the boards… :OP ) and **Weasleys Wizard Wheezes **(thanks! I'm glad you like it, and that you were able to recognize my name! :OD ) I did! So thanks everyone! Here's another chapter, and the following one will come within a few weeks, hopefully. 

I also deeply apologize for when it changes fonts and scrolls sideways- it's a problem that I've yet to figure out the cure for, so we'll just have to suffer. (Note: It truly is four and a half pages long, though! Not shabby…)


	13. Back to Hogwarts!

Am I allowed to tell you all how very lucky you are? Believe it or not, I've been working on this story. and I thought I'd lost the bulk of this chapter, but by some miracle, I'd posted it on the message board I frequent, and was able to continue on for all of you! ~.~.~.~.~.~  
  
It was Monday and the first day of class when Lily finally arrived back at Hogwarts- apparently, there had been a delay with the train, causing students to arrive at school around midnight the previous Thursday. Finding it unfair to send students to class when they'd be so exhausted, Dumbledore canceled the Friday classes. Lily found herself supremely lucky to only have a few classes to make up.  
  
Yanking her heavy trunk and extra duffel bag along behind her as she proceeded to Gryffindor Tower, Lily glanced at her watch. "Last class would've started five minutes ago," she noted with some satisfaction.  
  
After having to direct a few first years to their last class, Lily reached the portrait hole at last. Clearing her throat delicately to jerk the Fat Lady out of her doze, Lily uttered politely, "Pardon me, I don't know the current password, as I've just arrived. My name is Lily Evans, I'm a sixth year Gryffindor now. You might remember me from when I was in first and second year, and-"  
  
"Oh, perfectly understandable, dearie," the Fat Lady beamed. "Professor McGonagall told me you'd be along today." After telling Lily what the current password was, she swung open to let the girl in.  
  
Lily deposited her luggage on the floor of her room and observed her surroundings. Her bed was still far away from the door and near a window, with the couch set up next to it with the second bed nearby the door.  
  
After hurriedly unpacking and pushing her trunk and duffel under the bed, Lily swung out of the window and up onto the roof. The feeling of familiarity nearly overpowered her as she raced along the straight pathways once again.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Dung and a few other boys from the dorm had retreated to their room to complain about the amount of work that they'd received that day. One would think that if they truly had as much work as they made out, that they would complete it quickly as opposed to whining and complaining about it. However, such a work ethic as that can hardly be expected from a large group of teenage boys.  
  
When the grumbling had finally died down, Sirius sat examining his right thumb.  
  
"What are you doing?" Dung asked.  
  
"Well, I have a pain under my fingernail. And it keeps tingling. And every time it goes 'tingle tingle,' a spot right here," he pointed out a soft spot below his collar bone and next to his shoulder, "goes 'tingle tingle' too. But it's a 'tingle tingle' that hurts."  
  
The other boys gave him a look as if fearing for his sanity, but the one girl present whispered, "Yeah, that happens to me sometimes. Go soak the thumb in lukewarm water, it'll be fine." It was the only sixth-year Gryffindor girl, and since she had seen no sign of her mystery dorm mate still, she chose to chat with the boys.  
  
At her word, Sirius disappeared into the bathroom and water was heard running. A few moments later, the comfortable silence that had fallen in the bedroom was shattered into bits by an ungodly shriek issuing from the boy's bathroom. A sound like that could only have come from Sirius- and nobody liked the amount of splashing that seemed to have occurred.  
  
As the room's inhabitants made to stand up, a very miffed Sirius and a sopping wet red-headed girl came out of the bathroom.  
  
Befuddled, James queried, "What happened?"  
  
"I don't seem to have remembered the roof as well as I thought," was all the unfamiliar girl would say. It was also all she was able to say, because Sirius began babbling on.  
  
"I was making the water lukewarm and she drops in out of the window, scaring the bejillies out of me, so while she's cracking up, I'm splashing her with water." Here he paused for a moment to take a breath, and Remus seized the opportunity to stem the flow of words.  
  
"Chaos, maybe you should bring her to get some dry clothes," he said, watching the puddle forming at the red head's feet.  
  
"Oh, I'm fine," the girl announced, quickly casting a drying charm on herself. "But I should be going now, anyway."  
  
Once she'd disappeared out the door, Peter turned to the other boys and Chaos. "Who was that?"  
  
All the others shrugged, though inside, Chaos knew just who the mystery girl happened to be.  
  
'Lily's back!' she thought excitedly, excusing herself a few minutes later to go and see if she could find her old friend.  
  
When she arrived back in her dorm room, she saw Lily sprawled out comfortably on the hot pink, leather couch, reading a book entitled "The Hobbit (There and Back Again: A Hobbit's Tale)".  
  
She glanced up when Chaos entered the room, and smiled. "Hey, Chaos! Did you happen to take notes or anything today? I want to get caught up as soon as possible."  
  
Overwhelmed with an amazing variety of feelings, Chaos simply nodded and took out a roll of parchment. After Lily had quickly copied the notes over, she went back to reading her book, trying to avoid the uncomfortable silence and even more uncomfortable questions that were certain to ensue once the silence was broken.  
  
Chaos, cross-legged on her bed, tried to sort out the jumble of feelings prancing about in her head. The first clear thought that registered jumped out of her mouth. "Why did you leave?" Before Lily could answer, more questions followed quickly, including, "Where did you go? Why are you back now? Why didn't you warn me you were leaving? Why didn't you warn me you were coming back?"  
  
Lily snapped her book shut and smiled up at her friend. "I left because my parents died and I wanted to go live with my aunt, uncle, and cousin in Laos. I had to leave too quickly to let you know, and I decided I wanted to come back this year. I. . . I'm sorry I didn't warn you that I was returning." She didn't mention the fact that it was mostly because she'd forgotten.  
  
After a few more moments of uncomfortable silence, Chaos hugged Lily tightly.  
  
"I'm glad you're back," she whispered into her friend's ear.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Sirius did WHAT?" Lily shrieked a few hours later, dropping the biscuit that she'd managed to scrounge from the kitchens.  
  
Chaos laughed and nodded. "He pulled it off for three days, too! No one knew it was him." She quickly slapped some cheese on a slab of bread and tossed it down her throat.  
  
"How did they find out?" Lily retrieved the biscuit from the puddle of chocolate chips on the floor.  
  
She'd never been a huge fan of gossiping, not really having anyone to gossip with, but catching up on what had happened when she had been gone was very refreshing. Until Chaos inquired about the couch.  
  
"Well, it was left in an old lady's will for me. I'd known her for about two and a half months, we'd had lots of fun in her apartment, watching movies. I went to get her to go for ice cream the night before I was supposed to come back here, but she was- dead. That's why I was late."  
  
"I'm sorry," Chaos said sincerely, not having been wishing to refresh a tragic memory so new.  
  
"It's all right," Lily shrugged. "Now, about making this television work here. . . I can't believe you've never seen a movie!"  
  
"What do you expect? I was in an orphange for most of my life. . ."  
  
The rest of the night was spent searching for different charms to make the television work without electricity.  
  
The next day, after the History of Magic lesson, Lily was enthralled. "You mean, Avalon is real?"  
  
"Yeah, I've known since. . . forever!" Chaos wasn't as enthusiastic as Lily about the most boring lesson.  
  
Professor Binns didn't call role any more, knowing that everyone would show up for fear that the one day they weren't there, he'd decide to check up. This being so, and History of Magic being the first lesson, the Gryffindor sixth year boys still didn't know the mysterious girl's name. They weren't even certain as to her house, yet.  
  
Lily glanced nervously over her shoulder at a small knot of the boys from her year. "Do you think they remember me?"  
  
"Who?" Chaos followed Lily's gaze. "Oh, they won't recognize you or your name. They find the events of the past gloomy and overshadowed, and tend to shove specific details out of their mind for the benefit of enjoying the present."  
  
Lily raised an eyebrow at Chaos's small show of being over-articulate and wise, but didn't comment. "What's next?"  
  
"Divination," Chaos grimaced.  
  
"Goody."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"You, my dear, have had a dark past," the misty voice resolved into a wispy woman, pointing at Lily.  
  
"Who hasn't?" Lily hissed at Chaos, grinning and winking. Putting on a tragic face, she proclaimed dramatically, "Yes, I have! However did you know?" and burst into tears.  
  
"I am, of course, the teacher of the wonderful art of Divination. What do you see in my future?"  
  
The question somewhat surprised Lily, but she collected herself and mustered up a decent response. "You will come to a devastating end when your favorite form of transportation fails you."  
  
A gasp emitted from some of the listening students at the mystery girl's gall.  
  
The misty tone lifted while the teacher exclaimed, "I believe you have the makings of greatness, my dear girl! Already spouting off predictions. . ."  
  
Lily rolled her eyes and plopped down on a round foot-rest type of chair, gesturing for Chaos to take the comfy armchair.  
  
After the class, when Lily was far away from the "loony room" as she'd come to call it, she declared that the class had been the biggest waste of time ever.  
  
"Honestly, Chaos. The only thing you have to do is feed her a ton of miserable bull and she'll love you to death. You actually tried in that class before?"  
  
The other girl grinned, shame-faced, and admitted she had. "But I didn't want to risk failing! I already have enough trouble with Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies. . ."  
  
"You take Muggle Studies? I can help you with that, no problem!" Lily interrupted, enjoying that she'd be of some use to her friend. "Let's go get lunch, I'm starved!"  
  
Before Chaos could respond, Lily had dragged her off. It was amazing how the girl knew more secret passages than Chaos, when she'd only been in the school for a year and a half. Then, with a slight twinge of guilt, she realized that this was due to the fact that she'd had no friends, which was partially her fault.  
  
A thought occurred to Chaos when a spoonful of mashed potatoes was halfway to her mouth. "Lily," she said, setting down her spoon. "Do you want to know what the others had me do during second year?"  
  
Lily's interest was piqued. "What do you mean?"  
  
{A/N: This was the last bit I'd had written. All the rest is new stuff.}  
  
"Well. I didn't spend nearly as much time with you as I should've. I didn't exert my rights as a free entity at all."  
  
"What in the world are you getting at, Chaos?" Lily demanded, carefully laying down her knife and taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.  
  
Chaos drew in a deep breath and explained rapidly, "The-other-girls-told-me- not-to-talk-to-you-and-then-they-wanted-me-to-test-you-and-see-whether-you- were-still-a-snob-or-not-by-bringing-you-to-the-house-elves-and-seeing-how- you-treated-them,-but-I-wanted-to-bring-you-anyway,-but-I-never-dared-until- they-told-me-to,-and-I'm-such-a-horrible-horrible-person-and-a-terrible- terrible-friend!"  
  
Lily nearly choked on her pumpkin juice when she understood. "So when you were close to me, it was because they were letting you, but then you let them pull you away?"  
  
Chaos nodded nervously.  
  
"I can't believe." Lily started laughing hysterically. "My God, Kay Oss, you had better've acquired some backbone since then, or else we're going to have some major problems."  
  
Smiling, relieved, Chaos simply replied, "I've been spending most of my time with the guys. I'd hope I've acquired a backbone by now. Maybe two. Two would be good."  
  
~*~*~*~ I love you all! And I'm sorry, but I've been un-motivated lately.  
  
Oh, and wish me luck, everyone! I'm the Fairy God-Mother in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, and the show is next weekend! I'm so excited! "IMPOSSIBLE!" 


End file.
